


Gavroche and Angelique

by Gavroche_Lafayette, SkyFireForever



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Artist Grantaire, Canon Era, Canonical Character Death, Child Abandonment, Child Abuse, Child Death, Child Loss, Child Murder, Child Neglect, Childhood Friends, Confusing, Death, Depression, F/F, F/M, Friendship, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Les Miserables - Freeform, M/M, Multi, One-Sided Enjolras/Grantaire, Original Character Death(s), Paris Uprising 1832, Past Character Death, Period-Typical Homophobia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Revolution, Sacrifice, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Ultimate Sacrifice, Young Love, tradgedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-08-30 05:27:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8520232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gavroche_Lafayette/pseuds/Gavroche_Lafayette, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyFireForever/pseuds/SkyFireForever
Summary: Les Miserables mainly about Gavroche Thenardier's experience. Along with a new friend named Angelique.





	1. Nouvelle Vie

**Author's Note:**

> The titles are in French but the rest of the story is in English

In the year 1820 and in the small town of Montfermeil, France, a baby’s cry came from the medical clinic. Followed by the cry came a scream of horror, “It’s a boy!” a woman’s voice screamed, “I have a son!” Anyone who was passing by knew exactly what was happening. The woman who had just given birth had been talking about her third daughter for nearly eight months now. The woman, Madame Thenardier, had no respect for boys. She spoiled and pampered her two daughters; Eponine who was five years old, and Azelma who was three years old. The family, including the Monsieur Thenardier, ran an inn called _The Sergeant of Waterloo_. They also had a young girl named Cosette who they had agreed to take care of while Cosette’s mother, Fantine, went to find work. They treated Cosette as a slave, making her do chores around the house and beating her when she did something wrong. The small girl looked up from her sweeping when she heard the scream. Eponine and Azelma both came running out of the inn and went down the street towards the medical clinic.

“Mommy’s having the baby!” Azelma yelled back at Cosette.

Eponine hit her sister lightly on the arm, “Don’t talk to her.” she whispered.

“Why not?” Azelma asked.

“Because she’s different.” Eponine said, “Now, come on, let’s go see our sister.” Azelma took one last glance back towards Cosette before running after her sister. Madame Thenardier was laying on a bed, the doctor stood next to her holding a baby.

“Is that our sister?” Azelma asked, looking at the baby.

“It’s your brother.” the doctor said, smiling.

“I want a sister!” Eponine shrieked, “Why isn’t it a girl?!”

“Oh, come here, Eponine.” Madame Thenardier said, holding her arms out to her eldest. Eponine huffed and crossed her arms, “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

“What do you mean brother?” Azelma asked, confused.

“We don’t have a sister, Zel. It’s a boy.” Eponine said, “It’s not fair!” she ran out of the clinic and back to the inn, “PAPA!” she screamed.

Her father, Monsieur Thenardier, came out of the back room, “What?” he whined, “What do you want?”

“I want a sister!” Eponine shrieked, “I don’t want a brother! It’s not fair!”

“What in hell are you talking about?” the Monsieur slurred, clearly drunk.

“It’s a boy! The baby’s a boy!” Eponine yelled.

“Whatever, does it matter?” Monsieur slurred, going back to the back room.

Eponine’s face turned red from anger and she stormed up to her shared room with Azelma, “Ugh!” she screamed, throwing herself onto her bed.

“Mama, why’s Eponine so upset?” Azelma asked her mother.

“Because she wanted a sister.” Madame Thenardier sighed.

“But she has a sister.” Azelma said, confused.

“When can I go home?” Madame Thenardier asked the doctor.

“In a few days.” the doctor said, “We have to do tests and make sure you and the baby are alright.”

“I’m fine and I don’t really care if that thing is.” Madame Thenardier said, “I don’t want it.”

“I’m sorry, Madame, but, you have to take the child.” the doctor said.

“Why?” Madame Thenardier complained, “I don’t want a son.”

“You just have to.” the doctor said.

A few days later the Madame returned home with a baby boy in her arms. Immediately she dumped the child into a cradle, “Cosette!” she yelled.

Cosette ran into the room, “Yes, Madame?”

“Take care of the baby.” the Madame instructed, leaving the room.

Cosette leaned her broom up against the wall and slowly approached the cradle. She smiled at the baby, “Hello.” she whispered, “I’m Cosette.” she knelt down and held the baby’s hand. The baby giggled and grabbed Cosette’s finger, shaking it.

“Cosette!” the Madame screamed from the other room.

“Yes, Madame?” Cosette asked, leaving the room.

Three years passed and in those years Cosette and the young boy became the closest of friends you could be. Cosette was more of a sibling than Eponine and Azelma to the boy. He was never given a name, though both him and Cosette spent countless hours trying to decide on one. His mother didn’t pay much attention to him. Most of the time if she even realized he was there she would beat him just for simply being so. The Monsieur didn’t care for the boy, he didn’t even care for his daughters. Throughout the three years things got worse for Cosette, her mother had been sending money but the Thenardiers were greedy, they wanted more money; they would beat Cosette if her mother hadn’t given as much money as they had asked. Of course, they didn’t tell Fantine that they were doing this, knowing Fantine would come back and take her daughter away, then they wouldn’t get her money. The Thenardiers knew how to get more money, scamming their customers daily. On Christmas Eve, 1823, their worlds changed.

“Cosette?” the three year old boy whispered, peeking into the room that his best friend was sweeping in.

“Shh.” Cosette whispered, putting her broom up against the wall and going over to him, “You can’t let your mama and papa hear you talking to me.”

Eight year old Eponine walked into her room, her brown curls fell around her shoulders underneath a blue hat, “Come on, little brother, it’s bedtime.” she said, glaring at Cosette.

The young boy looked apologetically at Cosette before following his sister. Later that night he snuck down the stairs to go back and see Cosette again.

“Cosette, your mother is with God.” he heard a man’s voice say, “Fantine’s suffering is over.”

The boy looked through the railing on the stairs and saw a middle aged man talking to the Thenardiers and Cosette, “Cosette?” he snuck down the stairs and quickly went into the room that connected to both the hall and the room the others were in.

“I stand here instead of her.” the man said, “And I’m saying what she asked me to say. And from today-”

“Let me take your coat, Monsieur.” Madame Thenardier interrupted, reaching for his coat.

“Cosette will live in my protection.” the man said, refusing the Madame.

“You are very welcome here.” Monsieur Thenardier said.

“I won’t forsake my vow to Fantine.” the man said.

“Take a drink.” the Monsieur said, holding up a cup.

“Take a seat.” the Madame immediately followed.

“Cosette shall have a father now.” the man said, putting his arm around Cosette. The boy’s eyes teared up and he ran back upstairs. He looked out the window and eventually the man and Cosette walked out. The man said something to Cosette and she nodded. He walked into a store across the street from the inn. The boy ran out of the inn and to Cosette.

“Are you leaving?” he asked, tugging on Cosette’s arm to get her attention.

“Oh, yes, I’m so happy.” Cosette grinned, something the boy had never seen. He looked away sadly, tears forming in his eyes, “What’s wrong?” her smile faded.

The boy kept his gaze away from her, “Goodbye, Cosette. I promise I’ll find you again.” he whispered before running back towards the inn. Cosette looked sadly after him until the man came out of the store with a doll. Her face lit up again and they went and got in a carriage. The boy ran and jumped onto the back of the carriage before it started moving. The carriage went along for a while, heading through the woods and on dirt paths. Finally, they reached a place with walls as tall as the boy could see. The carriage stopped behind a line of other carriages and suddenly, the man threw open the carriage door and rushed Cosette out. They started running away from the carriage. The boy hopped off of the carriage and followed them.

A hand grabbed him from behind, “Where did they go, boy?” a gruff voice asked. The boy turned and looked into the eyes of a policeman.

“W-who?” the boy asked.

“The man and the little girl.” the policeman said, “Where did they go?”

“I-I dunno.” the boy said, a little frightened.

“Valjean!” the policeman yelled, pushing the boy to the side and leading his men away. The boy slipped past the men at the gates of the wall and wandered around the streets. He found an alleyway and lay down, falling asleep quickly. He woke up and wandered around again. He finally reached a market and headed towards the bread shop. He looked at all of the bread and grabbed a piece of bread. At the same time, a small girl with red hair grabbed it as well. They both looked at each other.

“Let go.” the girl hissed.

“No, I grabbed it first.” the boy said, a little too loud.

The shopkeeper looked over, “Hey! Put that back!” he yelled.

The girl looked at the boy, “Run.” she said. She took off down the streets. The boy did his best to run beside her while not letting go of the piece of bread. They both finally ran out of energy from running and stopped.

“Can you give me the bread now?” the boy asked.

“No, I got it first, it’s mine.” the girl said.

“No, you didn’t.” the boy shot back.

“I tell you what.” the girl thought. She looked around and spotted a tree, “Whoever can climb that tree quicker can have the bread.”

“Okay.” the boy said, running towards it. The girl followed him and they both scrambled up the tree. They got to the top at the same time, “I won!” the boy announced.

“No.” the girl frowned, “I clearly won.”

“We can’t decide this ourselves.” the boy sighed.

“Why don’t we split the bread?” the girl suggested, “Maybe we can share stories, too.”

“Share stories?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, like, why you’re stealing.” the girl shrugged. She climbed down and broke the bread in half as evenly as she could. She sat down and leaned against the tree, “I’m Angie and I’m four years old.” she started, “My parents hated me because I was a girl and so they beat me. One night, I just decided to run away. I’ve been on the streets for a year now. Since I was three.”

“I’m three.” the boy said, “And my mama hates me cause I’m a boy. I ran away because the only reason I stayed in the first place was because my best friend was there. But, she was leaving so I wanted to go with her. I don’t know where she went.”

“What’s your name?” Angie asked.

“I-I don’t have one.” the boy said, his cheeks turning a little pink.

“Oh, your parents didn’t name you?” Angie asked.

“Like I said, my mama hates me.” the boy said, “And my papa just doesn’t care.”

“Well, we’ve gotta decide on a name for you.” Angie said, she crossed her legs and looked at him.

“My friend came up with some names, but, none of them really fit me.” the boy said.

“What’s your favorite?” Angie asked.

“I liked Gav.” the boy said, “But I don’t know if I want just that to be my name. Maybe a nickname or something.”

“What about…” Angie thought, “Gavin?”

“No.” the boy shook his head.

“Gav…” Angie tapped her chin, “Roche. Gavroche!”

“What does that mean?” the boy asked.

“I dunno, I think that Roche has something to do with mountains or something.” Angie said, “What do you think of that?”

“Yeah, Gavroche…” the boy said, “Sounds nice.”

“Gavroche.” Angie smiled, “Angelique is my full name by the way. Angie’s my nickname.”

“Okay.” Gavroche nodded, “Do you think that maybe we could be friends?”

“Yeah, course!” Angie said, standing up. She held out her hand to him and helped him up, “We’ll be best friends, Gavroche.”

Gavroche smiled, “I’ve only ever had one friend before.”

“I’ve never really had friends.” Angie shrugged, “It’ll be a nice change. Come on, I want to show you where I’ve been living.” she took off again down the streets. Gavroche quickly followed her, eating his bread as they ran. Angie led him to an uncompleted large statue of an elephant.

“You live here?” Gavroche asked, frowning at the statue.

“Yeah, it’s better than sleeping in an alley or something.” Angie said, “Come on.” she ran to the area underneath the elephant and grabbed a stick from the ground with a hook top. She reached it up and hooked it on something, yanking hard on it. A part of the bottom of the elephant swung down, a rope falling after it. Angie grabbed the rope and started climbing up, “Can you climb the rope?”

Gavroche nodded hesitantly, “Yeah, I think so.” he grabbed the rope and tried climbing it, to no prevail.

Angie laughed a little at his fail, “Grab on and I’ll try to pull you up.” she said. Gavroche grabbed the rope and waited. Angie pulled on the rope as hard as she could. The rope moved up a little bit. Angie sighed and let go of it. Gavroche fell off and to the ground.

“Why’d you do that?” he asked, standing up and brushing off his clothes.

“I can’t bring you up.” Angie sighed.

“Why not?” Gavroche asked.

“Cause I’m too weak.” Angie said, bringing her knees to her chest, “I’m not strong enough.”

“It’s okay.” Gavroche shrugged, “I can find some other way to get up.” he looked around the elephant for another entrance. Angie went back down the rope and reset the entrance. She walked around the elephant and looked as well.

“Here!” she called to Gavroche eventually. She had found a halfway built staircase leading up to one of the legs of the elephant, “We can try this one. I guess I missed it when I first started living here.”

“Yeah, okay.” Gavroche said, climbing the staircase. He reached out across the gap between the staircase and the leg and pushed on the wall. A door swung open. Gavroche’s hand was at the bottom of the door. He reached out both hands and pushed himself up to the doorway. He climbed inside and stood up on the flat surface inside, “There’s a staircase in here.” he said, leaning out of the leg.

Angie quickly climbed the staircase and followed him inside, “They must’ve built it before they built that staircase.” she gestured back outside to the half built one.

“Come on.” Gavroche said, starting up the stairs. Angie followed him cautiously. Gavroche ran ahead of her and soon she lost sight of him.

“Gavroche?” Angie called, “Where’d you go.”

“Angie!” Gavroche yelled from up the stairs, “Look what I found!” she ran up the rest of the stairs and caught up to him. He had reached the top of the stairs and they were now standing on a short ledge above an open cavern.

“Whoa. The place I’ve been living in was tiny. I thought that it was because the rest of the place was filled up.” Angie said, looking around, “Come on, let’s find a way down.” she looked over the edge, trying to find a safe way down. Gavroche snuck up behind her and pushed her. She shrieked in surprise and instinctively grabbed his hand, pulling him down with her. They slid down the side of the cavern. When they got to the bottom Angie yanked her hand away from Gavroche, “Don’t do that! You could’ve killed us both!”

Gavroche looked down, his long blonde hair falling into his eyes, “Sorry. I just thought it would be funny.” he mumbled, his smile from before having disappeared.

Angie sighed, “Whatever. At least we weren’t hurt.” she said. She stood up and brushed off her clothes, “I can’t see a thing, though.” she took a few steps and screamed as the floor beneath her broke and she fell. Gavroche scrambled towards the sound of the scream.

“Angie!” he yelled. A light shone through a hole in the floor. Gavroche quickly went over to it. A foot or two below him, Angie was laying down, unmoving. Gavroche took a deep breath before jumping through the hole, landing on his feet and then falling over. He crawled to Angie, shaking her, “Angie, are you okay?” he asked.

Angie stirred and woke up, putting a hand to the back of her head and groaning. She sat up, “Ow.”

Gavroche smiled a little, “You okay?” he asked again.

“Yeah. Yeah.” Angie said, nodding, “Where did I land?”

“I dunno. There seems to be candles here though. There’s light here.” Gavroche looked around, looking for the source of light. Gavroche crawled down the hall and grabbed the lamp that was sitting there, “It’s a Carcel Lamp!” he called back to Angie, “My mama and papa bought one of these.”

“Wow.” Angie said, “How does it work?”

“I dunno.” Gavroche said, crawling back to her. He climbed back through the hole and helped her up, “I think you have to have some liquid thing to make it work or something.”

“Oil I think.” Angie said, “I heard people talking about stuff like this.”

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, “Come on, let’s find a way out of here.” he shone the lamp around the cavern. On the other side from which they had come, there was a rope ladder hanging from another ledge. Gavroche carefully went to it, beginning to climb.

“Wait for me!” Angie said, running hurriedly after him and following quickly behind. Gavroche reached the top of the ladder and found another one. He climbed that one as well, Angie right behind him. He reached the top and found himself at a closed ceiling.

“I don’t think there’s any more building.” he called down to Angie.

“What do you mean?” Angie asked, trying to see.

“I mean that there’s a ceiling here. The ladder led us to a ceiling.” Gavroche said.

“Maybe it’s another trap door.” Angie suggested. Gavroche shrugged and pushed on the ceiling above him. It moved a little so he pushed harder on it. It swung up with a creak, crashing to one side above them. Gavroche climbed up as far as the ladder went and then climbed out. A cool breeze hit his face and he sat on the edge of the hole where the trapdoor had been. He was on top of the elephant that Angie lived in.

“Angie, you’ve got to see this.” he breathed. There was a breathtaking sight before him. He could see almost all of Paris, thousands of lights shone throughout the buildings he could see, each one going out as someone turned off their lamp. Angie climbed up and sat beside him, looking out as well.

“Wow.” she whispered, “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, “I didn’t know something could look like this.”

“I’ve never seen Paris from here.” Angie said.

“Paris?” Gavroche asked, “This is Paris?”

“Yeah.” Angie nodded, “How did you not know that?”

“I’ve never been here before.” Gavroche shrugged, “Just got here today.”

“Where are you from?” Angie asked.

“Montfermeil.” Gavroche said, “It’s a little town, everyone knows everyone.”

“Tell me about it.” Angie said, smiling. She lay back and put her hands under her head, looking up at the stars.

Gavroche lay down next to her, doing the same, “Well, the inn was near the center of town, that’s where I lived, mama and papa ran it, and across the street from it was the bakery, where Monsieur Andre lived, Cosette and I were his favorite customers.”

“Cosette?” Angie interrupted, sitting up a little and looking at him.

“Cosette was my best friend.” Gavroche explained, “A few years before I was born, her mama left her with the Thenardiers to go find a job in another place.”

“If it was me, I’d have been happy.” Angie said, “My mama hates me.”

“She said her mama was different.” Gavroche said, “She said her mama sang her lullabies and always made sure she was happy.”

“So then why’d she leave?” Angie asked.

“I dunno.” Gavroche shrugged, “But Cosette didn’t care, she knew her mama would come back for her. But, her mama died recently so a man came and took her away.”

“Oh.” Angie said, “Keep telling me about your town.” she lay back down.

“Well, like I said, there was the baker.” Gavroche said, “And next to the baker was the seamstress shop, Cosette’s mother had gone there to look for a job. There’s a few more shops and then there’s the church. Cosette and I would sometimes go there after doing all of her chores. The priest was nice, he was young, too. He taught Cosette how to read and write. He tried to teach me, but, I guess I’m just not a good learner.”

“I tried to learn reading and writing, I learned some of it, but, not enough to read whole books or write a full sentence.” Angie said, “Is your priest still there? Maybe we could go back to your town and he can teach us both.”

“No.” Gavroche shook his head and sat up, “I don’t want to ever go back there. He left anyways. About two weeks ago.”

“Why don’t you want to go back?” Angie asked.

“Because of my parents.” Gavroche said, looking down, “If they saw me again they’d probably blame me for Cosette leaving.”

“Did they beat you?” Angie whispered, sitting up as well.

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, “My mama did. My papa sometimes would hit me with an empty wine bottle.”

“Really?” Angie asked, “My parents didn’t hit me with things that would break.”

“Yeah, Cosette had to take me to the doctor a bunch of times.” Gavroche sighed, “He didn’t charge us or anything, though. Cosette and I were friends with a lot of people in the town.”

“Did they leave scars?” Angie asked.

Gavroche nodded. He lifted up his shirt and showed her scars running down his side, along with bruises from his mother hitting him with the paddle, “It’s worse on my arms and back.”

“Can I see?” Angie asked.

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded. He pulled his shirt off and turned so she could see his back. She held the lamp up to it.

“Oh my gosh.” she said, looking at his scarred and bruised back, “Your parents did this?”

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, putting his shirt back on, “I’m used to the pain now, though.”

“That’s horrible.” Angie whispered, “My parents made sure not to leave any marks.” she sighed, “Come on, let’s go back inside.” she got back on the rope ladder and climbed back down, taking the lamp with her. Gavroche took another look at the city before following her. They climbed back down to the cavern and then into the part beneath, “We should follow this until it ends, see where it goes.” Angie said, pointing down the hall. Gavroche nodded and began to crawl the opposite way from which he had found the lamp. He soon reached a wall.

“Nothing this way.” he said, turning back around and crawling back. They both crawled the other way. Finally, they reached a blanket, candles, matches, and a rope hooked on a hook sticking out from the floor.

“Finally.” Angie smiled, “This is where I’ve been living. It’s nice and cozy.” she put the lamp over next to the candles.

“It is nice.” Gavroche said, “Can I stay here, too?”

“Course.” Angie nodded, “It’s getting late, we should probably get to sleep.”

Gavroche nodded, “Yeah.” they both curled up under the blanket and Angie turned the lamp off, “Goodnight, Angie.” Gavroche whispered.

“Goodnight, Gavroche.” Angie whispered back. They both fell peacefully asleep.


	2. Frères

A few months after Angelique and Gavroche met, they were walking through a square, looking for people who they could get money off of. They saw a group of six rich-looking teenage boys standing in the middle of a square, trying to hand people flyers. No one was paying attention to the rich kids, most peasants didn’t like them; bratty, spoiled, pampered, rich kids. Angie pointed out the group to Gavroche and he nodded, a silent communication between the two of their next target. Gavroche walked up to the front of the group, “What’s that?” he asked one of the boys, a brunette with curly hair.

“It’s a flyer.” the boy said.

“Well, yeah, I know that.” Gavroche rolled his eyes, “I meant what does it say?”

The boy knelt down next to him, “Well, it’s for our group. We’re meeting at an apartment downtown. We’re coming up with ideas for trying to fix life here in Paris.”

“What’s wrong with life?” Gavroche asked, trying to distract the boy while Angie snuck up behind him and took his wallet.

“This.” one of the other boys, a boy with glasses, said, grabbing Angie’s arm. He took the wallet out of Angie’s hand and handed it back to the curly haired boy.

“Thanks.” the curly haired boy said, his cheeks turning a little pink. Gavroche looked at Angie, fear evident in his eyes. He turned around to run and bumped into someone. He fell back to the ground and looked up. Standing in front of him was a man dressed in a police uniform, glaring down at him. Gavroche recognized him, it was the police officer from the night he had run away with Cossette. The officer grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet. He then turned to the two teenagers. The curly haired boy stood up. The boy with glasses let go of Angie.

“I’ll take these two rats off of your hands, boys.” the officer said. He reached his arm out towards Angie.

“That’s not necessary.” the boy with glasses said.

“I’m sorry?” the officer asked, “I saw the girl take your friend’s wallet. Now, I’ll be taking them away.”

“She took it because she wanted to go get a snack but I said that she couldn’t.” the curly haired boy spoke up, “She’s my little sister.” he picked Angie up, “And he’s ‘Ferre’s little brother.” he gestured to Gavroche.

“Yes.” the boy with glasses nodded, “So, if you’ll let go of him, that will be wonderful.”

The officer looked between the four children, “Don’t lie to me, boys. There’s no way that they are your siblings. You have curly brown hair and she has wavy red hair. And you have brown hair and he has blonde hair.” the officer said, “I don’t take to liars well.”

“We aren’t lying.” the curly haired boy said, “Just because we don’t look alike doesn’t mean we aren’t siblings. My mother has red hair and my father has brown hair.”

“Yes, and my grandfather has blonde hair.” the boy with glasses said. The curly haired boy glanced over at him, confused for a second, “What? It’s possible for both of the parents to be brunette but to have at least one other family member with that gene to have another person be blonde.”

The officer sighed, “Fine. But if I catch them again, that’ll be it. Remember the name Inspector Javert.” then, he let go of Gavroche and left. The curly haired boy put Angie down.

“Why’d you do that?” Angie asked.

“Do what? Help you?” the curly haired boy asked, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Thanks.” Gavroche said.

“I’m Combeferre and that’s Courfeyrac.” the boy with glasses said, gesturing to the curly haired boy.

“Gavroche.” Gavroche replied.

“I’m Angelique.” Angie said.

“Well, the blonde over there is Enjolras.” Combeferre said, pointing out one of the other boys, “He’s our leader. And there’s Lesgle, Joly, Bahorel, and Feuilly.” he gestured to each of the other one’s in turn.

“And we’ve got one more member, but, he didn’t come with us.” Courfeyrac said, “He’s probably back at the meeting place. His name’s Grantaire, but his friends call him R.” he laughed a little to himself.

“Come on, we’ll introduce you to Enjolras.” Combeferre said, holding out his hand to Angie. She hesitantly took it. Courfeyrac did the same with Gavroche. Gavroche took his hand as well. The two boy led the children over to their leader, “Enjolras.”

“What?” Enjolras asked, turning around. He had just finished talking to a younger teenager who couldn’t be over the age of fourteen, “I think I just got us a new member. This is Jean Prouvaire.” he said, gesturing to the boy.

“Well, we just got two new members, too.” Courfeyrac grinned, “Meet Gavroche and Angelique.”

Enjolras looked around, confused, “Well? Where are they?”

“Right here.” Courfeyrac said. He picked up Gavroche and set him on the stage-like area that was right next to Enjolras. Combeferre did the same with Angie.

“They’re mere children.” Enjolras scoffed.

“But they can help us with how the poor people live and maybe eventually how to rally them.” Combeferre said.

“We can help, M’sieur.” Angie whispered.

“Don’t call me M’sieur.” Enjolras said, “Everyone just calls me Enjolras. And I don’t really want children as a part of our cause. Especially not a girl.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Angie yelled, her face had turned from meek to angry in a second.

“I mean that girls can’t fight like we can.” Enjolras said, turning to her, “Especially girls like you, you are clearly not strong enough to.”

“Yes, I am!” Angie yelled, “And I can prove it to you! Whatever you tell me to do, I can do it!”

“Alright, girl.” Enjolras nodded, “I have just the thing.” he said something to the other boys and then led the four others away from the square. Angie made sure to walk right beside him, not losing stride. Gavroche, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac struggled to keep up with the two, practically running behind them. They reached a large house; three stories and maybe an acre of land including the house.

“What is the place?” Angie asked.

“My house.” Enjolras said simply. He pushed open the gate and led them through to the garden. He walked over to a small stream that seemed to be running from nowhere. Enjolras started picking up rocks and inspecting them, finally standing up with a medium sized pebble in his hand. He went back over to Angie and handed it to her, “If you’re strong enough, I want you to throw this pebble and break that window, there.” he pointed to the window that led to his family room, knowing that his mother would be in there knitting and reading her book.

“Enjolras, your-” Combeferre started.

“Hush.” Enjolras cut him off, “I want to see if she can do it. And then after you do that, I want you to stand here for five minutes. The rest of us will go wait out on the sidewalk, I’ll come and get you when it’s been five minutes.”

Courfeyrac glared at his friend, “Don’t do it.” he said to Angie.

“I have to. I gotta prove myself.” Angie said, crossing her arms.

“Come on, Courf, Ferre.” Enjolras said, “You can stay here, kid, or you can come wait with us.” he said to Gavroche.

“I’m not leaving her side.” Gavroche said, crossing his arms.

“Okay, that’s your choice.” Enjolras shrugged.

Gavroche nodded and turned to Angie, “You don’t have to do what he says, you know that, right?”

“I wanna prove that I’m strong.” Angie said, readying her arm.

Enjolras led his two friends out the gate and shut it behind them, “Come on, let’s go.”

“Enjolras, we can’t just leave them.” Courfeyrac said, “Especially not with what you told the girl to do.”

“Does it matter?” Enjolras scoffed, “They’ll probably get beaten by my parents and then turned over to the cops. They probably need to anyways.”

“Why would they need to?” Courfeyrac asked, “They’re children.”

“Come on, Courf, I saw her steal your wallet.” Enjolras said.

“That’s because they’re hungry.” Courfeyrac protested, “I mean, have you seen them? Their shirts are hanging on barely anything.”

“Whatever, I’ll keep my promise and go to them five minutes after she hits the window.” Enjolras said.

Angie took a deep breath before chucking the pebble at the window, it went right through and left a hole in the middle of the glass window. A scream came from inside the house, presumably to the older boys, Enjolras’ mother. The front door to the house swung open and a man came out, a nearly empty wine bottle in his hand.

“Who the hell threw that pebble?” he yelled, marching down the stairs towards them.

“I did.” Angie said, standing up tall.

“Why the hell did you throw a pebble through my window, girl?” the man growled.

“The blonde haired guy told me to.” Angie said, pointing towards the gate.

“This little rat?” the man asked, grabbing Gavroche by the shirt and pulling him close, effortlessly picking him up as well, “What the hell, boy?”

“N-no.” Gavroche shook his head.

“Don’t lie to me!” the man yelled, his breath smelled of wine and beer. He dragged both Angie and Gavroche into the house and slammed the door shut behind them.

“Enjolras!” Courfeyrac looked at his friend with wide eyes, “Now we don’t know what’s happening! Your father dragged them inside!”

“Leave it, there’s still four and a half minutes left.” Enjolras said, counting down in his head.

Inside, the man, Monsieur Enjolras, dragged the two children to the living room where the pebble lay in the middle of the room, glass shattered around it. Monsieur Enjolras threw them to the floor then went and grabbed his paddle from the closet in the living room and advanced on the children, wine bottle in one hand and paddle in the other. He finished the wine in the bottle and held it upside down. Gavroche and Angie stood up and both froze when they saw the two items, Gavroche’s eyes were fixed on the wine bottle and Angie’s on the paddle. Monsieur Enjolras leaned the paddle up against a table and grabbed Gavroche by the collar. He threw him on the floor again and threw the bottle at him, the bottle shattered on impact and most of the shards dug into Gavroche’s back and side. Gavroche yelled out in pain, tears started to appear in his eyes. He reached towards the shards and slowly dug them out, one by one. Blood trickled out of each wound and down his back and side. Monsieur Enjolras grabbed the paddle and hit Angie with it on the side, causing her to stumble. He then hit her on the back with it, making her go crashing to the ground. She curled up in a ball.

“Please, Papa!” she whispered out of habit. She covered her head and started to cry.

Monsieur Enjolras didn’t hear her and turned and kicked Gavroche into the shards of glass from the broken window.

Gavroche cried out again, “Stop it! I’ll do whatever you want! Just please, stop!” he said, shaking and crying. He didn’t try to take the shards out this time, he just lay there sobbing.

“Get up!” Monsieur Enjolras ordered. When neither child moved, he yanked them to their feet. Gavroche yelled in pain, several of the shards of glass falling out. Angie cried and put her head in her hands. Monsieur Enjolras threw them both onto the couch and went to the other room. After a moment, he came back, the paddle was now gone and he now had a belt in his hand.

Angie looked mortified at the belt, “Please...I-I’m sorry.” she whispered. Monsieur Enjolras raised the belt and struck her across the face with it. She screamed. Then, he did the same to Gavroche.

“Stop it! Please!” Gavroche cried, “I’ll do anything you want! I can be better! I can help more!”

A flash of confusion went across Monsieur Enjolras’ face before it was replaced again by anger, “I’m sending for the police!” he announced. He went out of the room again.

“It’s been five minutes.” Enjolras said, “Come on, let’s go inside.” he led his friends inside.

“Son, good thing you’re here.” his father said, walking out from the living room, “Can you go get the police? I’ve got two rascals in my living room who need to be locked up.”

“Courf, Ferre, could you do that?” Enjolras asked his friends.

“We could bring the two ‘rascals’ to the police station for you, M’sieur.” Combeferre offered.

“Yes, that would be exceptional.” Monsieur Enjolras nodded, “They’re in the living room.” the three boys rushed into the living room. Angie was crying on the couch and holding her cheek and Gavroche had fallen back on the floor. He was also crying and he was bleeding from the deeper wounds, scars the shards of glass had cut deeper into and had reopened. Combeferre rushed over to Gavroche and scooped him up into his arms.

“We have to get them medical treatment.” he said to Courfeyrac, “You get Angie, we’ll take them back to my apartment, we can treat them there.”

Courfeyrac nodded and picked up Angie. They both headed past Enjolras and out of the house, “How far away is your apartment from here?” Courfeyrac asked Combeferre.

“Maybe half a mile.” Combeferre said, “I moved into an apartment near here for that reason, so I could live close enough to Enjolras’ house that if he decided on anything, I would be the first person he would tell.”

Courfeyrac laughed a little, “Well, we do call you ‘The Guide’ for a reason.”

Combeferre smiled a little, pink appearing slightly in his cheeks, “Yeah, I suppose so.” he continued walking silently. Courfeyrac followed him just as silently, hoping they would reach his home soon so they could help the children. Finally, Combeferre stopped at a building and pushed open the door, carrying Gavroche up a flight of stairs and unlocking an apartment door. He pushed open the door and walked into the room. Once inside, he placed Gavroche carefully on a table, “Put her on the bed.”

“Okay.” Courfeyrac said, carefully placing Angie on the bed.

Gavroche groaned, “Cosette?” he mumbled, his eyes closed.

Combeferre glanced at Courfeyrac a little worriedly, “No, Gavroche. Who’s Cosette?” Combeferre carefully pulled Gavroche’s shirt off and started inspecting his wounds.

“Cosette.” Gavroche whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Combeferre sighed and went and got a bottle out of his cabinet. It was a substance of his own invention, he used it to clean wounds, rather than just plain water. He grabbed a rag from the counter and went back over to Gavroche. He poured some of the substance onto the rag and began cleaning Gavroche’s wounds carefully. The boy winced a lot at first but eventually settled down, trying hard not to move. Combeferre finally finished cleaning them and wrapped gauze around Gavroche’s middle carefully.

“Did Enjolras’ parents beat _him_?” Courfeyrac muttered.

“No, but, he used to have a little sister, she died a year or two ago, young, too.” Combeferre explained, “I guess they both reminded Enjolras’ father of her. Enjolras used to bring her to me whenever she was beaten, it got really bad most of the time.” he moved over to inspect Angie. He carefully took her hand away from her face to reveal a gash running down her cheek from where the belt had hit her. Combeferre went and got his sewing kit before returning and patching up Angie’s cheek. He tried to keep her still while he did so but to no prevail. Every time he made another stitch she jerked away. Combeferre looked at Courfeyrac for help, “Can you hold her down? If she keeps moving like this, I could seriously hurt her with the needle.”

“Yeah, sure.” Courfeyrac nodded. He walked over, “Where should I hold her?”

“Put one hand on her other cheek and hold down her left arm with your other hand.” Combeferre instructed. Courfeyrac did so as Combeferre finished the stitching, Courfeyrac made sure that her head didn’t move and he kept her arm pinned down so she couldn’t hit Combeferre. Combeferre stepped back and nodded to Courfeyrac, “Thanks.”

“Course.” Courfeyrac nodded, smiling, “Are they both going to be alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to keep an eye on them for a day or two, but, yeah.” Combeferre said.

“Did I do it?” Angie whispered, “Was he impressed?”

“Who, Angie?” Courfeyrac asked, kneeling down next to her.

“Your friend, the blonde man.” Angie said, “Was he impressed with me?”

“I-I don’t know.” Courfeyrac glanced at Combeferre.

“I’ll go find him and see.” Angie said, sitting up and swinging her legs off the bed.

“No, you need to stay here for a bit.” Combeferre quickly pushed her gently back down.

“But I need to go see if I’ve proved myself enough to him.” Angie protested.

“You can do that later, right now, you need to rest.” Combeferre instructed, “Please, I just stitched up your cheek, I don’t want the stitches to be ripped.”

Angie touched her cheek lightly where the stitches were, “When _can_ I go?”

“Maybe in an hour or so. I just need you to rest until then.” Combeferre said. Angie sighed and laid back down.

“What about Gav?” Angie asked, glancing at her friend. Gavroche had fallen asleep a little while after Combeferre had stopped stitching up Angie. Combeferre turned and looked at Gavroche.

“He can leave in an hour as well.” Combeferre said, “I think you both will be fine and-” Courfeyrac tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to Angie, who had already fallen asleep.

“Come on, let’s let them sleep.” Courfeyrac whispered to Combeferre. Combeferre smiled and nodded, taking one last look at the two sleeping children before turning out the light and closing the door behind him.


	3. Le café

It was four months before Gavroche and Angelique met Enjolras again. They had gone to the apartment location on the flier but were told that the boy who lived there had moved out. They went back to the square but the six teens never re-appeared there. They wandered all over Paris searching for the boys. Soon, however, the names had slipped their minds and they forgot all about the three boys they had met. Then, there was one particularly hot day in July that would never slip from their memories.

“Ugh, it’s too hot.” Gavroche groaned. He and Angie were walking down the streets of Paris, looking for something to steal, “Why can’t we just go back to the Elephant?”

“Cause I want something to eat.” Angie said, not losing stride beside him, “I haven’t had a good piece of bread in three days.” she licked her lips as she smelled freshly baked bread down the street, “Come on.” she grabbed Gavroche’s hand and pulled him towards the store. Gavroche sighed and walked next to her. He pushed the door to the store open and they walked inside.

“What may I help you with, boys?” the baker asked.

“My brother and I just need one loaf of bread, please.” Angie smiled.

“Of course.” the baker nodded and turned away to look for a loaf to give them. As soon as he did that, both Angie and Gavroche grabbed bread off of the shelves and stuffed their pockets full. The baker turned back around, “How much money do you have?”

“Oh, I forgot to ask mama for money.” Angie said, face palming. As she did so, two of the pieces of bread fell out of her pocket.

“Thieves!” the baker yelled. Gavroche and Angie both turned around and ran out of the store. The baker followed them and kept yelling. There were a few policemen patrolling the area for this reason and as soon as they heard the baker’s yells, they started chasing after Gavroche and Angie.

Gavroche glanced back and his eyes met the eyes of a man he had seen twice before, “Not him again.” he muttered.

“Who?” Angie asked, she didn’t glance back.

“Remember when we were in the square that day and there were those guys who were handing out fliers?” Gavroche asked.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about them.” Angie nodded.

“Well, that policeman is there again. Inspector Javert, I think.” Gavroche said, “This is the third time I’ve seen him.”

“Are you sure it’s the third? I think you mean second.” Angie said, trying to correct him.

“No, the first time you weren’t there.” Gavroche explained, “He probably doesn’t remember me, though.” the policemen were gaining on them, having longer legs.

“There! We can hide in there!” Angie said, pointing to a cafe at the end of the street. They charged into the doors and ran quickly inside, slipping under the arm of a bartender who was trying to stop them. They ran towards another door, they hoped it would lead outside, but, instead it led to a hallway. They ran down the hallway and into one of the rooms. Inside were a bunch of boys. They boys at the front stopped talking and looked at the small children in the doorway.

“Hey, I remember you two!” one of them said, standing up, “Angelique and Gavroche, right?”

“You’re Courfeyrac!” Gavroche said excitedly, recognizing the boy.

“Come back here, you rats!” came a yell from down the hall.

Angie glanced back worriedly, “They’re gonna find us.” she whispered to Gavroche.

“Not again.” Courfeyrac sighed, “We have to stop meeting under thieving circumstances. Come on, you can hide under the corner table.” he led them over to a table where one young man and a much younger teenage boy were sitting at, the man was passed out with a bottle sitting next to him and the boy was writing something on a notepad.

“Who are these two?” the boy asked, looking up.

“They need to hide, Jehan, I’ll explain after.” Courfeyrac said. The boy, Jean "Jehan" Prouvaire, nodded and Gavroche and Angie crawled under the table. A few seconds later, they heard sets of heavy footsteps enter the room.

“Where did they go?” they heard one of the policemen ask.

“I’m sorry?” they heard Courfeyrac’s voice ask.

“The two children.” the policeman replied.

“What two children?” Courfeyrac asked.

“The two boys.” the policeman said, “We saw them run in here. Now, where are they?”

“I’m sorry, two boys didn’t run in here, sir.” Courfeyrac said.

“We’re going to have to search the room.” the policeman said.

“I’m sorry, but, you can’t do that without a proper warrant.” the two children heard another familiar voice say, it was the voice of Combeferre, the boy with glasses.

“Let us search the room.” the policeman ordered, “Move out of our way and there won’t be any problems.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but most of us here are law students so we won’t stand for you going against the law, for which you are supposed to uphold, and search this room without a warrant.” Courfeyrac said.

“Or we could arrest every person in this room for harboring criminals.” the policeman shot back.

“But you don’t know if we are harboring them or not.” Courfeyrac said, “For all you know, they could’ve gone out the window and run away.”

“Don’t try to get smart with me, boy.” the policeman said.

“I’m just stating a possible scenario.” Courfeyrac said.

There was a silence followed by retreating footsteps from the room. The boy who was sitting at the table leaned over and looked at Gavroche and Angie, “They left.” Gavroche and Angie crawled out from under the table and stood up. All eyes were fixed on them as they did so.

“Everyone, this is Angelique and Gavroche.” Courfeyrac said, walking over to the two children. Angie looked down a little shyly.

“Hi.” Gavroche said, looking around the room.

“Well, don’t just sit there.” Combeferre said, standing up, “Welcome the two newest and youngest, sorry Prouvaire, members to our group!” one by one, the young men walked over to Angie and Gavroche, introducing themselves. There were only two people who didn’t join the group; the man who had passed out and Enjolras. The blonde stood in a corner, frowning upon the actions of his friends.

“Over there’s Grantaire.” Courfeyrac whispered to Gavroche and Angie, pointing to the passed out man, “And you’ve met Enjolras.” Angie looked around and her eyes landed on Enjolras. She broke away from the crowd and walked over to him.

“Did I prove myself to you when you told me to throw the rock into the window and then stay there for five minutes?” she asked.

Enjolras rolled his eyes, “You’ll never prove yourself to me.”

“Why not?” Angie frowned, crossing her arms.

“Because you’re a girl.” Enjolras said, “A girl will never impress me.”

“I’ll impress you. Just watch!” Angie said, “I’ll be the first girl to impress you! I swear it!”

“Don’t swear it, you’ll never succeed.” Enjolras said. He moved past her, “Let’s start the meeting!” he yelled to his friends over the noise. They all settled down in chairs and looked at him, “Today is the first official meeting of the Friends of the ABC.” Enjolras said triumphantly, “From today, and hopefully for as long as we need to have these meetings, they will take place in this room at the back of the Cafe Musain.” the men cheered. Enjolras made a long speech about why they were having the meetings and told them his hopes for the future. After he finished, the men talked with the groups at their tables about everything.

“Inspiring speech.” Combeferre grinned at Enjolras.

“Hey, we should come up with code names for ourselves.” Courfeyrac said, “Enjolras, you’ll be ‘The Chief”. ‘Ferre, you should be ‘The Guide’, and I’ll be ‘The Center’.”

“And R should be ‘The Cynic’.” one of the other boys, Lesgle, said, laughing. Courfeyrac and Combeferre laughed as well.

“This isn’t a joke, Courfeyrac.” Enjolras said, rolling his eyes, “This is a serious thing that we’re doing here. And those two children shouldn’t be a part of it. Just think of what would have happened if they had run in here while I was saying my speech. We would have all been arrested.”

“But we weren’t, Enjolras.” Courfeyrac said, “And what do you have against children? I mean, it’s not like they’ll be so young anymore when we actually rebel.”

“Maybe the boy can fight, just not the girl.” Enjolras sighed.

“Why not?” Courfeyrac asked.

“Because she’s a girl.” Enjolras said, “Girls can’t fight. It’s not in their nature.”

“It’s in her nature.” Courfeyrac said, “She’s been fighting on the streets for at least four months, we know that.”

“Girls are supposed to stay at home and cook and clean, not fight with men.” Enjolras said.

“Did your sister want to do that?” Courfeyrac asked, “Because from what I remember, you were teaching her how to fight her own battles.”

“Don’t bring her into this!” Enjolras yelled, “She died because she couldn’t fight!”

“She died because your parents refused to take her to the hospital!” Courfeyrac argued, “She held on for two months!”

“Stop talking about her!” Enjolras yelled, close to punching Courfeyrac, “I don’t want to hear anything about her ever again! I got over her death!”

“No, you didn’t.” Courfeyrac said, “You still haven’t. She was the only thing that made you happy.”

“Yes, she was.” Enjolras said, “And now she’s the only thing that makes me sad. She’s gone and I can never get her back, so stop reminding me of that.”

“I know.” Courfeyrac whispered, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought her up. I just don’t understand why you care so much for the people’s rights if you won’t let one of them fight with us.”

“Because I don’t need any more children getting hurt.” Enjolras said, “Not after her.”

“But if they help us fight, then they won’t get hurt anymore.” Courfeyrac insisted, “Please, Enjolras, just let them help us. They can get the word out quicker than any of us, anyways.”

“Fine. But as soon as something happens to one of them, or they bring the police here again, they’re gone.” Enjolras said, “Both of them.”

“Alright.” Courfeyrac nodded. He went over to Gavroche and Angie, “He finally agreed.”

“He had a sister?” Angie asked, they had all heard the conversation Courfeyrac and Enjolras had had.

“Yeah, she passed away two years ago.” Courfeyrac nodded, “She was a little bit older than you.”

“He doesn’t like me.” Angie said, looking down.

Courfeyrac sighed, “You just remind him of her.”

“What do I need to do to show him that I’m not her?” Angie asked.

“I don’t know. Nothing.” Courfeyrac said.

“There’s gotta be something.” Angie said, thinking, “I can fight someone to show him I’m strong.” she suggested.

“No, you don’t need to.” Courfeyrac shook his head, “Nothing will impress Enjolras.”

“I gotta try something.” Angie said. She ran out of the room, Gavroche right behind her. They both ran out of the cafe and down the street, looking for trouble.


	4. La Famille

Angie ran through the streets of Paris, trying to find someone to fight. Gavroche ran right behind her, worried for his friend. Angie turned down an alley and stopped, causing Gavroche to run right into her.

“Why’d you stop?” Gavroche whispered to her.

“There.” Angie pointed down the alley at a group of men standing with their backs to the two. There were four men down the alley, two of them were more buff and the other two were skinny, “I’ll go for that guy.” she pointed to one of the skinny men, he was mid-sized, Angie thought that would be perfect.

“Okay.” Gavroche nodded, “We’ll go together.”

“No, I wanna do this by myself.” Angie shook her head, “I’ve gotta do this by myself.”

“I can’t just stand here and watch.” Gavroche said, a bit loudly. The four men turned and looked at them.

“What do you rats want?” one of the bigger guys asked.

“I wanna fight one of you.” Angie said, she pushed Gavroche aside and walked down the alley, “Him.” she pointed to the guy she and Gavroche had been talking about. He was half-hidden by the other men to Gavroche. He stepped out of the group and Gavroche’s eyes widened.

“Angie, stop.” he hissed, grabbing her arm.

Angie pulled away, “No, I’m gonna fight him.”

“Angie, please.” Gavroche said, panic evident in his eyes.

“Why?” Angie asked, turning back, “What’s wrong? Do you know him?”

“Angie, that’s my papa.” Gavroche said.

“Him?” Angie glanced back at the man, “Well, good, I’ll fight him anyways.”

“Come on, kid, let’s just get this over with.” Thenardier chuckled, “It’ll be an easy beat. Maybe if you’re lucky, I won’t kill you and your friend.”

“You aren’t going to kill either of us.” Angie said. She cracked her knuckles.

“Yeah, sure.” Thenardier laughed, “Where should we bring your bodies?”

“I’ll be sure to drag you to the Cafe Musain and show them I _can_ fight.” Angie said.

“Cafe Musain, sure thing.” Thenardier smirked, “Come on, you make the first move, boy.”

“I’m not a boy.” Angie said. She took off her cap and threw it to Gavroche, letting her red curls fall out.

“Even better.” Thenardier chuckled, “A girl. You should be even easier than I thought.”

Angie scowled and ran at him. Her first move, a punch, missed him. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her against a wall. She hit the wall and fell to the ground. He kicked her in the stomach.

“Stop!” Gavroche yelled. He ran down the alley towards them.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Thenardier asked, squinting at Gavroche.

Gavroche swung at him, connecting with his stomach, “Yeah, you do!” he yelled, “I’m your son!”

“Even better.” Thenardier laughed, not even phased by the hit, “A girl who thinks she can fight _and_ my son.”

Angie stood back up, “I _can_ fight!” she said. She tried to swing at him again but was taken by surprise when one of the other men picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She screamed and kicked and hit him, “Put me down! Put me down!” she screamed. Thenardier kicked Gavroche in the stomach, sending him crashing to the ground.

“Gueulemer, you get the boy.” Thenardier said. One of the men picked Gavroche up and slung him over his shoulder, “Let’s make a trip to the Cafe Musain.” he led the group out of the alley and down the streets, getting strange looks from almost every passerby. They made their way to the Cafe Musain and marched inside. One of the boys from the group Angie and Gavroche had made themselves a part of, Bahorel, was at the counter, getting more drinks for his friends no doubt. He stood up when he saw the group walk in.

“Angelique? Gavroche?” Bahorel asked, looking in surprise at the men holding the two children.

“You know these two?” Thenardier asked, “Are you the reason they wanted to come here?”

Bahorel shook his head, his mouth wide open, “T-this way.” he pointed towards the hallway. The group walked towards the hallway and Bahorel led them to the room, gulping before leading them inside. Everyone stopped talking and looked up at the group in the doorway. Bahorel quickly rushed to a seat and got out of the way.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Enjolras asked, standing up from his seat.

“Just to get these two off our hands.” Thenardier gestured to the two children. Gueulemer, the man holding Gavroche, pulled him off his shoulder and dangled him by a leg.

Courfeyrac stood up, “What happened?”

“They came looking for a fight, so I gave them one before bringing them to where they wanted me to.” Thenardier shrugged.

Gavroche struggled against Gueulemer, “Put me down!” he yelled.

“Fine with me.” Gueulemer said, dropping Gavroche on his head. Gavroche rubbed his head and stood up. He glared at Gueulemer who glared back.

“Actually,” Thenardier glanced at his son, “We’ll just leave the girl.”

Gavroche looked in surprise at Thenardier, “What?”

“Does that mean I can put her down now?” the man holding Angie asked.

“Yeah, whatever.” Thenardier said to the man, “We’ll take you with us.” he said to Gavroche.

“I don’t want to go with you.” Gavroche said, taking a step back. Gueulemer grabbed him again.

“Let go of him.” Courfeyrac said.

“I’m sorry, but, I don’t think that’s something you can say, boy.” Thenardier said, “I’m taking him with me.”

“Why?” Courfeyrac asked.

“Because he’s my son.” Thenardier said, “I have the right to do whatever I want to him. I think right now he deserves a beating for running away. I had just made plans of what I was going to do with him.”

“No you hadn’t.” Gavroche argued, “You barely even knew I existed.” he fought against Gueulemer, to no use. The other man put Angie down and she ran towards Gavroche. Combeferre reached out and grabbed her before she could get to him.

“Stop, you’ll just make things worse.” Combeferre whispered to her.

“Shut up, boy.” Thenardier ordered.

“You can’t do whatever you want with him.” Courfeyrac argued, “There are certain laws that-”

“Who cares about laws?” Thenardier asked, “And besides, what do boys like you know about them?”

“Well, actually, most of us are students of law.” Courfeyrac said proudly, “So we know what laws there are for things like this.”

“Well guess what?” Thenardier asked, “I don’t care.” he punched Gavroche in the stomach.

“Stop it!” Courfeyrac said, starting forward. Enjolras grabbed his friend’s shoulder.

“Courf…” Enjolras said.

“Get off of me!” Courfeyrac pushed Enjolras away and walked up to Thenardier.

Thenardier scoffed, “What are you going to do, boy?” he asked. He punched Gavroche again, this time in the face.

Courfeyrac grabbed Thenardier by the shoulders and turned the man back towards him. Then, he punched Thenardier hard in the nose. Thenardier stumbled back and his hand flew to his nose. Then he punched Courfeyrac just as hard in the eye. Combeferre let go of Angie and rushed forward towards his friend.

“No, ‘Ferre.” Courfeyrac shook his head. Angie ran over and tried to pull Gavroche out of Gueulemer’s grasp but couldn’t. A few more boys, Feuilly, Lesgle, and Bahorel, stood up and approached the group at the front of the room. Combeferre looked back at Enjolras.

“You going to fight back?” Thenardier asked Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac just glared at him. Thenardier kicked Gavroche in the stomach.

“Stop it.” Courfeyrac growled.

“Why would I do that?” Thenardier asked, “Gueulemer, hold him up higher.” the thug did so, holding Gavroche so he was eye level to Thenardier. Thenardier punched Gavroche several times in the stomach and face before Courfeyrac tackled him to the ground, throwing punches wildly. The man who had passed out in the corner, Grantaire, woke up and looked around. When he saw the fight at the front of the room, he stood up, swaying a little as he made his way towards the front of the room, having to lean on many chairs for support. He finally got to the front and leaned on Combeferre’s shoulder.

“What’d I miss?” he asked.

“A lot, R.” Combeferre said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m about to beat up someone.” he moved away from Grantaire and went and punched one of Thenardier’s thugs. The man stumbled back, surprised, before swinging back at him, completely missing. Combeferre punched him again. Feuilly followed Combeferre’s lead and went and attacked the other skinny man, punching him. Lesgle and Bahorel attacked Gueulemer, pulling his arms away in order to free Gavroche. Gavroche fell to the ground and Angie helped him up, pulling him away from the others. Joly, a medical student, rushed over and started to help Gavroche. Before he did so, though, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and used it to cover his mouth.

“Why are you doing that?” Angie asked.

“You never know if he might be sick.” Joly said through the handkerchief. He started inspecting where Thenardier had hit Gavroche, “No serious damage, he should be fine.” Angie sighed in relief.

Thenardier pushed Courfeyrac off of him and got up. He stalked over and pushed Angie and Joly away from Gavroche, “This is all your fault, boy!” he yelled, “We should have just let you die when you were a baby!” he stepped on Gavroche’s chest. Gavroche squirmed underneath him, trying to get away. Thenardier pushed down.

“Stop it! You’re going to kill him!” Angie shrieked, grabbing Thenardier’s leg. At that moment, the bartender appeared at the door, five policemen behind him, one was Inspector Javert. Four pairs of eyes widened when they saw the policemen; Thenardier’s men and Angie.

“What’s going on here?” Javert’s voice boomed. He stepped forward into the room. Immediately the four boys who were having fistfights with the thugs stopped. They all backed up.

Thenardier looked up at Javert, “Just a little misunderstanding.” he said, quickly stepping off of Gavroche’s chest. Gavroche gasped for breaths and crawled towards Angie, “My men, my son, and I will be leaving now.” he turned around and grabbed Gavroche’s arm, pulling him to his feet, and dragging him away from Angie. Gavroche struggled against him.

“Let me go!” Gavroche yelled.

Javert stopped Thenardier, “This boy is your son?”

“Yes, Inspector.” Thenardier nodded, “I was just reunited with him. He ran away a little while back.”

Javert looked back and forth between Thenardier and Gavroche before finally nodding, “You may go.” Thenardier dragged Gavroche out of the room and down the hall before leaving the cafe, his three thugs following him. The boys who had been at the front of the room returned to their seats, sliding most of the papers off of the table while Javert was distracted. Javert glanced around before leaving with his men. The boys sighed in relief. Angie curled up in a ball on the ground and started crying. Joly started freaking out about whether or not he had gotten a disease from Thenardier.

“They’re gone.” Enjolras said, “Get out.” he said to Angie. Angie stayed curled up in a ball.

“Enjolras, we have to go after them.” Courfeyrac said, “His father is going to hurt him.”

“No, I’m not going to get mixed up in things like this.” Enjolras replied, “We’ve got more important things to worry about.”

“More important than an innocent child being hurt? Isn’t this the kind of things we’re fighting for?” Combeferre asked.

“No, we are fighting for the rights of the people.” Enjolras shook his head, “If he’s truly that boy’s father, there’s nothing we can do.”

“We can help him get away.” Courfeyrac argued, “We can protect him.”

“You can’t protect someone from their parents.” Enjolras whispered.

“Enjolras…” Courfeyrac mumbled, “I’m going after them.”

“Fine.” Enjolras sighed, “But don’t bring him back here, I don’t want any more trouble.”

Courfeyrac nodded and picked Angie up, carrying her out of the cafe and down the street, trying to find Thenardier and his gang. Combeferre looked at Enjolras for a long second before following his friend. Grantaire was still confused, but followed Combeferre mostly because he wanted a good fight. A few other boys stood up, but they decided not to follow. Enjolras sighed and sat down, his head in his hands, trying to think.

Thenardier dragged a kicking and squirming Gavroche down the streets of Paris towards the outskirts. He stopped at an alley and dragged the boy down it. At the end of the alley were a woman and two girls. The woman was holding something in her hand and the girls were playing with a really dirty doll, “Madame, look what I found.” he smirked, holding up Gavroche.

“Let me go! Put me down!” Gavroche yelled, squirming.

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Madame Thenardier asked, looking in disgust at the boy.

“Our son, that brat who we should have killed when he was born.” Thenardier said, throwing Gavroche to the cobblestones at Madame Thenardier’s feet.

The older of the two girls looked up, “Little brother?”

Gavroche looked at her, “Eponine? Azelma?”

Madame Thenardier picked Gavroche up and held him out, looking at him, “Oh, yes.” she said, disgust evident on her face, “And why did you bring it here?”

“He can help us.” Thenardier explained, “I’m sure the only way he’s survived here has been stealing.”

“So?” Madame Thenardier asked.

“He can be useful.” Thenardier said.

“I guess.” Madame Thenardier sighed. She threw Gavroche back to the cobblestone, “How did you find it?”

“His little girlfriend was trying to pick a fight with me.” Thenardier laughed, “She’s probably curled up in a ball somewhere.” Gavroche stood up.

“Probably.” Madame Thenardier nodded, “So, where have you been the past however long?” she asked Gavroche.

“I’ve been here!” Gavroche said, “I live in the elephant with my friend!”

“Friend? You call that girl a friend?” Thenardier scoffed, “She’s going to die within the year. You shouldn’t make friends with people like that. They’ll just crush you in the end. It doesn’t matter anyways, you’ll never see her again.”

“Yes, I will!” Gavroche yelled, “Get out of my way!” he tried to push Gueulemer out of his way but failed since he was a tiny four year old. The man pushed him back, causing him to fall down again. Thenardier laughed. Gavroche stood up, angry. He stalked back over to Gueulemer and glared at him.

“Come on, boy.” Thenardier grabbed his arm and pulled him away, “I’ve got things to teach you.” Gavroche tried to pull away but the man was much stronger. He pulled Gavroche down the alley past Madame Thenardier and the two girls. The alley was a dead end with a door to the right at the end. Thenardier brought Gavroche to the door and stood him in front of it.

“What’re you doing?” Gavroche asked, looking at his father.

“On three, I’m going to push open the door and you are going to walk in there.” Thenardier said, “You are going to steal things from three people and then come back out.”

“Why?” Gavroche asked.

“One...Two-” Thenardier said. He threw open the door and pushed Gavroche in. Gavroche stood right inside the door and looked around. It was an inn much like the one his parents had owned. There were drunk people everywhere and glass on the floor along with many suitcases. Gavroche walked hesitantly through the inn, looking for another door. When he couldn’t find one he decided he would have to do what his father told him to. He looked around and spotted a man standing by the bar, a briefcase lying on the counter next to him. Gavroche snuck over and reached into the man’s pocket, pulling out a nice pocket watch. He quickly put it in his pocket and looked around for someone else. There was a woman sleeping in a booth in the corner, a necklace hanging around her neck. Gavroche walked over and unclasped the s-clasp that held the necklace together. He quickly shoved it into his pocket with the pocket watch and moved away. He looked around again and his eyes settled on a man standing in the corner with his back to everyone else. Gavroche snuck up behind him and tried to reach into his pocket before realizing that the man didn’t have any pockets. Gavroche’s hand hit the man’s side by accident, causing the man to turn around. The man looked down at him with eyes that seemed black as night.

“I’m sorry, M’sieur.” Gavroche whispered, “I-I bumped into you on accident.” he backed up a bit but found himself against a wall.

“Are you sure you weren’t trying to steal from me?” the man growled. He cracked his knuckles and glared down at the small boy.

“I-I-” Gavroche stammered. He froze, scared.

“That’s what I thought, nobody steals from Babet.” the man growled. He grabbed Gavroche by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him up the wall to eye level. He turned around and threw Gavroche across the floor, causing the boy to slide right into a broken bottle on the floor. Gavroche yelled out in pain as the bottle dug into his back. The inn fell silent as everyone looked at Babet and Gavroche. Babet stalked back over and pulled Gavroche up, causing the pocket watch and necklace to fall out of his pocket. The man who had the pocket watch scrambled over and picked it up, looking in surprise at the boy. A few more thuggish looking men stood up and formed a line behind Babet. Gavroche squirmed in Babet’s grip, trying to slip out. Babet threw Gavroche to the ground and went to put his foot on Gavroche’s chest. Gavroche quickly rolled out of the way and hopped to his feet. He raced across the room towards the door, throwing it open and rushing out. Babet and his friends ran after him.

“Did you get anything?” Thenardier asked when he saw Gavroche.

“Yeah, I’d say so.” Gavroche said before running down the alley. He slid through Gueulemer’s legs and stood up, continuing his run. He heard yells from behind him and glanced back to see Babet and his thugs pushing down the alley past the Thenardiers and the others. Gavroche ran out into the wider street and took a right, running back the way his father had dragged him, starting across _Pont Marie_ , a bridge. He looked up ahead and saw four people he was glad to see; Angie, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, and Grantaire. Angie’s eyes lit up when she saw him and she pointed him out to the others. Then, they widened. Gavroche felt the cobblestone beneath his feet disappear and then he was airborne, sailing over the railing on the bridge and going right towards the water. He hit the part of the bridge that stuck out below the railing and tumbled over the edge. He quickly grabbed onto the edge and hung on as best he could. Angie, Courfeyrac and Combeferre rushed over to the side of the bridge and looked over. Courfeyrac finally spotted Gavroche at the bottom of the bridge and leaned over as far as he dared, but he was unable to reach Gavroche. Grantaire approached Babet, who was the one who threw Gavroche over, and punched him hard in the nose.

“Help!” Gavroche yelled, he was starting to lose his grip. Courfeyrac tried to climb over the short wall between them and Gavroche but couldn’t quite get his leg over.

“Lift me up and over.” Angie said, “I can pull him up.” Courfeyrac hesitated but did so, carefully placing her on the other side. Angie took a deep breath before carefully kneeling down. She looked into Gavroche’s panicked eyes.

“Angie, you can’t lift me up.” Gavroche said, “I’m gonna fall.”

“No, you’re not.” Angie shook her head, “Trust me.” she put her hands on his and grabbed onto them, “Let go of the edge, I can pull you up.”

“It’s just like with the rope when we first met, you can’t.” Gavroche started to cry, “But this time, there’s no other way.”

“I _will_ pull you up.” Angie said. She pulled his hands off of the edge and a yelp escaped his lips. She lurched forward as he started to fall but she pulled with all of her might back. She pulled Gavroche onto the ledge and, once she knew he was safe, she let go. Courfeyrac grabbed Gavroche under the armpits and pulled him over the edge, Combeferre did the same with Angie. Grantaire and Babet had engaged in a fistfight, seeming to be evenly matched. The boys put the children on the ground.

“Come on, we should go.” Combeferre said, glancing at where Grantaire and Babet were fighting. Courfeyrac nodded and started leading the children down the bridge, “R! Let’s go!” Combeferre shouted to Grantaire. Grantaire punched Babet one last time before following the others down the streets.

“Where do we go?” Courfeyrac asked Combeferre, “We can’t go back to the cafe, Enjolras won’t let them in.”

“We can go to my place.” Grantaire offered. They all agreed and headed towards Grantaire’s apartment.


	5. Le Sceptique

Grantaire led Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Gavroche, and Angie up the four flights of stairs to his apartment. He had bought an apartment overlooking a square. He had specifically wanted this one for two reasons; one was so that he could pick people out of the crowd to paint on his canvas, the second reason was that it was right across the street from the Musain. He was always the third or fourth person to a meeting at the Cafe, even though he had no idea what time the meetings were nor really believed in what the meeting were for. The only real reason he went was Enjolras. Grantaire admired his leadership and wholeheartedness about the cause. Of course, the admiration was one way, Enjolras frowned upon Grantaire’s being a skeptic and almost always being drunk. Enjolras also was the way Grantaire knew that there was going to be a meeting. He could always spot Enjolras on a crowded street, his golden blonde, blue eyes and rosy cheeks seemed to stand out to Grantaire, as he could never figure out how exactly to paint them correctly. Enjolras was the first person to ever give Grantaire issues with a painting, even drawing Enjolras troubled Grantaire, he was never able to move past Enjolras’ face. Lying around his apartment everywhere were just what he considered as failed drawings of Enjolras. He pushed open the door to the apartment and led his friends inside.

“Wow.” Courfeyrac said, stopping once he walked inside. Angie pushed past him so she could also get into the room.

“Are these all yours?” she asked, her eyes growing wide as she looked around at the drawings and paintings.

“Yeah.” Grantaire nodded and walked over to a cabinet, pulling out a bottle and taking a long swig, “I can’t seem to draw Enjolras correctly, however.”

“I think they’re really good.” Angie said, looking at him, “What do you think is wrong with them?”

“Well, you see right here?” Grantaire walked over to one she was looking at and pointed to the jawline, “I can’t seem to capture Enjolras’ jawline. Even though I study him every week, I can’t seem to figure it out.”

“It’s always moving.” Courfeyrac said, chuckling a little to himself.

Grantaire ignored Courfeyrac, “And look at this one.” he moved Angie to another drawing that was still on the easel, a variety of blue colors seemed to have been painted over one another on the eyes, “This is my most recent one.”

Angie studied it, “I think it looks beautiful.”

Grantaire sighed, “I can’t get the color in his eyes right. I’ve done so much shading but it doesn’t seem to be right.”

“Do you think...you can teach me?” Angie asked, “How to draw?”

“You want _me_ to teach _you_?” Grantaire asked, looking at her in surprise. He took another swig, “I suppose I could.”

“Really?” Angie’s eyes lit up, “I would really like that.”

“Sure.” Grantaire shrugged, “When do you want your first lesson to be?”

“Can it be tomorrow?” Angie asked excitedly.

“How about Saturday?” Grantaire asked, “I’m free then.”

“Okay!” Angie grinned, “Maybe one day, I can draw myself as King of France!”

Gavroche frowned and looked over at her, “You want to be King of France?”

“Well, yeah, why not?” Angie asked, looking back at him, “If we’re gonna do this revolution thing, we need a King. And I think I’m the perfect person!”

“But, Angie, you can’t be King.” Gavroche said, “You’re a girl.”

“I can do whatever I want.” Angie crossed her arms, “So what if I’m a girl? Don’t start talking like those other people, Gavroche. Like your father and Enjolras.”

“I’m not like Enjolras and I’m _definitely_ not like my father.” Gavroche said.

“Then prove it, say that I can be King of France.” Angie said.

“But why King?” Gavroche asked, “Why don’t you want to be Princess or Queen or something?”

“Because nobody cares about the Queen or Princess.” Angie huffed.

“Well, some people care.” Combeferre spoke up.

“Yeah, about their looks.” Courfeyrac snorted.

“Exactly.” Angie said, “I don’t wanna be judged just because of how I look. I wanna actually do something. I’ll be King. No matter what anyone says.”

“Fine.” Gavroche shrugged, “Whatever.”

Angie grinned, “Wait. Why did we come here?”

“To get away from them.” Combeferre was standing at the window, looking out. The others went over and looked out the window. In the square below, Babet and his thugs were pushing through the crowd, most likely looking for them. The second they left the view of the window, all five let out a breath at the same time.

“Does that mean we can go home?” Gavroche asked, looking at Combeferre.

“Maybe you should wait for a few minutes.” Combeferre said, letting go of the curtain, “Just to be sure.”

“Okay.” Gavroche looked down. He sat down on the floor and leaned up against the wall. Angie sat down next to him.

“I’m sorry.” Angie whispered, “I should’ve listened to you when you told me to stop.”

Gavroche shook his head, “It’s fine.” he murmured.

“No, it’s not.” Angie said, “If I hadn’t tried to fight him, you wouldn’t have had to go through this again.”

“It’s fine. It’s not that big of a deal.” Gavroche said, “It’s over now.”

“But what if he comes back?” Angie asked.

“I don’t want to think about that.” Gavroche started standing up again, “Just leave it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Angie stood up and looked away, “Okay.” Gavroche crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to Courfeyrac.

“Are you okay?” Courfeyrac asked Gavroche.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Gavroche said. Courfeyrac sighed and leaned back. After a few minutes the boys finally decided to let Gavroche and Angie leave. Once the two had left, Courfeyrac and Combeferre lingered for a few minutes.

“Why do you draw Enjolras so much?” Courfeyrac asked Grantaire.

Grantaire chuckled a little, “I take interest in Greek Mythology.”

“What does Enjolras have to do with Greek Mythology?” Combeferre frowned.

“Because he’s clearly the wonderful Apollo.” Grantaire said, taking a swig of a bottle that he seemed to pull out of the couch cushions.

“Apollo? You mean a Greek god? Enjolras?” Courfeyrac laughed. Then he noticed Grantaire’s serious face, “You’re serious?”

“Well, of course.” Grantaire said, “What else would he be?”

“Enjolras is just a man, like you and me. As he has pointed out several times in his speeches.” Combeferre said, “Why would you think he’s Apollo?”

“Well, can’t you see it?” Grantaire asked, he walked over to the window, “His hair is the sun, his eyes are the color of truth, how do you not see? He clearly is the great god Apollo!”

Courfeyrac chuckled, “Whatever. See you at the meeting tomorrow?”

“Of course.” Grantaire nodded, “I would never miss the chance to be in the presence of a god.”

“Right, well, see you.” Courfeyrac said, laughing a little as he walked out.

“Ignore him.” Combeferre said, smiling a little before following Courfeyrac. Grantaire sighed and started to draw on an empty canvas in the corner.


	6. Le Poète

1829 was treating the nearly 19 year old Jean Prouvaire well. Even though it was only January, the young poet had high hopes for the rest of the year. Most of all, he was excited for a certain book of poems to be published. Forty-one poems written by Victor Hugo put in a single book entitled  _ Les Orientales _ .

“Here you go, M’sieur.” the woman at the counter said, handing him the book. He grinned and took it from her.

“Thank you, Mademoiselle.” Prouvaire said. He payed and left, rushing down the street to the cafe so he could show his friends. He burst into the cafe and ran to the back room, “I got it!” he held up the book in triumph.

“Got what?” Combeferre asked, looking up from where he was studying something on the table.

“Victor Hugo’s new poem book!” Prouvaire grinned, walking in and sitting down, “Can I read one to you?”

“Sure.” Combeferre waved his hand. Bahorel sat down in the chair next to Prouvaire to hear it.

“Go ahead, Jehan.” Bahorel smiled, calling the younger boy by his nickname.

Prouvaire grinned before flipping to a page, 

“ _ J'étais seul près des flots, par une nuit d'étoiles.  _

_ Pas un nuage aux cieux, sur les mers pas de voiles.  _

_ Mes yeux plongeaient plus loin que le monde réel.  _

_ Et les bois, et les monts, et toute la nature,  _

_ Semblaient interroger dans un confus murmure  _

_ Les flots des mers, les feux du ciel. _

_ Et les étoiles d'or, légions infinies,  _

_ A voix haute, à voix basse, avec mille harmonies,  _

_ Disaient, en inclinant leurs couronnes de feu;  _

_ Et les flots bleus, que rien ne gouverne et n'arrête,  _

_ Disaient, en recourbant l'écume de leur crête:  _

_ C'est le Seigneur, le Seigneur Dieu! _ ”

“Wow.” Combeferre leaned back in his chair, “Interesting choice of words, I suppose.”

“Victor Hugo is a wonderful novelist and poet.” Prouvaire said, smiling, “I’m glad I can finally have a book full of so many poems written by him. They’ll be so inspiring.”

“Maybe they’ll inspire you to actually finish one of your poems.” Bahorel laughed.

“Yeah, maybe.” Prouvaire’s cheeks pinkened.

“Where’s Enjolras? The meeting’s supposed to start soon.” Courfeyrac said, approaching the table.”

“Probably going to make a big entrance.” Bahorel said.

“Have you seen Gavroche and Angelique recently?” Combeferre asked Courfeyrac.

“Yeah. It’s been nearly five years and he  _ still _ won’t let them come back.” Courfeyrac sighed, pulling up a chair, “I’ve been updating them on everything that’s been happening.”

“Do you think they’d like to hear a poem?” Prouvaire asked.

“Maybe.” Courfeyrac shrugged, “You can read one to them, I suppose.”

“Are they at the elephant?” Prouvaire asked.

“Yeah.” Courfeyrac nodded, “I’m sure they’d enjoy the company, too.”

Prouvaire smiled and stood up, “Come by after the meeting, I’ll stay with them. You can update all three of us on what’s happening.”

“Yeah.” Courfeyrac nodded again. Prouvaire left the cafe and walked to the elephant, going to the secret door and knocking. Footsteps came faintly at first from inside and then they got louder.

“Who is it?” Angie’s voice yelled from inside.

“Jean Prouvaire.” Prouvaire said.

“Okay.” Angie opened the door, “I thought there was a meeting.”

“There is. I decided to spend time here instead.” Prouvaire said, “Let me in?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Angie stepped back and let him step across into the stairwell.

“I just got a new book of poems.” Prouvaire said, holding up the book.

“Are you going to read them?” Angie asked, taking the book from his hands and looking at it.

“Yeah, I can.” Prouvaire nodded. Angie ran up the stairs quickly, leading him to the center of the elephant. The elephant’s interior had changed over the years. Instead of the emptiness that it had been when Gavroche first moved in, the elephant had fliers stacked to the sides and was filled with things Gavroche and Angie had collected over the years; canvases, fliers, empty wallets and money bags, and tons of other things. Courfeyrac had installed a rope ladder on the side of the cavern so they didn’t have to slide down it anymore. They used the tunnel that Angie had first found as another route to get out, it was a route that no one bigger than a child could crawl through. Angie climbed down the rope ladder and skipped over to Gavroche, who was trying to read a flier. Prouvaire climbed down and followed her.

“Prouvaire’s gonna read us a poem.” Angie said, sitting next to Gavroche, “Why are you still trying to read that?”

“Because I want to.” Gavroche crossed his arms and frowned, “I just can’t seem to make out what that says.” he pointed at a word on the page.

“Musain.” Prouvaire read, “That’s the cafe.”

“Oh.” Gavroche said. He put the flier down, “So, what poem are you gonna read us?”

“Well, I’m just going to flip to a page and read part of one to you, I suppose.” Prouvaire said, taking his book back from Angie. He opened it and flipped to a page, “Here we go. Part 1 of  _ Lui _ :

_ Toujours lui ! Lui partout ! – Ou brûlante ou glacée, _

_ Son image sans cesse ébranle ma pensée. _

_ Il verse à mon esprit le souffle créateur. _

_ Je tremble, et dans ma bouche abondent les paroles _

_ Quand son nom gigantesque, entouré d'auréoles, _

_ Se dresse dans mon vers de toute sa hauteur. _

_ Là, je le vois, guidant l'obus aux bonds rapides, _

_ Là, massacrant le peuple au nom des régicides, _

_ Là, soldat, aux tribuns arrachant leurs pouvoirs, _

_ Là, consul, jeune et fier, amaigri par des veilles _

_ Que des rêves d'empire emplissaient de merveilles, _

_ Pâle sous ses longs cheveux noirs. _

_ Puis, empereur puissant, dont la tête s'incline, _

_ Gouvernant un combat du haut de la colline, _

_ Promettant une étoile à ses soldats joyeux, _

_ Faisant signe aux canons qui vomissent les flammes, _

_ De son âme à la guerre armant six cent mille âmes, _

_ Grave et serein, avec un éclair dans les yeux. _

_ Puis, pauvre prisonnier, qu'on raille et qu'on tourmente, _

_ Croisant ses bras oisifs sur son sein qui fermente, _

_ En proie aux geôliers vils comme un vil criminel, _

_ Vaincu, chauve, courbant son front noir de nuages, _

_ Promenant sur un roc où passent les orages _

_ Sa pensée, orage éternel. _

_ Qu'il est grand, là surtout ! quand, puissance brisée, _

_ Des porte-clefs anglais misérable risée, _

_ Au sacre du malheur il retrempe ses droits, _

_ Tient au bruit de ses pas deux mondes en haleine, _

_ Et, mourant de l'exil, gêné dans Sainte-Hélène, _

_ Manque d'air dans la cage où l'exposent les rois! _

_ Qu'il est grand à cette heure où, prêt à voir Dieu même, _

_ Son œil qui s'éteint roule une larme suprême! _

_ Il évoque à sa mort sa vieille armée en deuil, _

_ Se plaint à ses guerriers d'expirer solitaire, _

_ Et, prenant pour linceul son manteau militaire, _

_ Du lit de camp passe au cercueil! _ ”

Gavroche and Angie were silent.

“Did you like it?” Prouvaire asked, closing the book, “It’s only the first part of it.”

“Yeah. It was really good.” Angie nodded.

“Did you write it?” Gavroche asked.

“I wish.” Prouvaire smiled, “Victor Hugo wrote it.”

“Who’s Victor Hugo?” Angie asked.

“He’s a wonderful poet and novelist. He’s written many great poems. Including the forty-one in this book.” Prouvaire said.

“That’s a lot of poems.” Angie said.

“I wish I could read and write.” Gavroche sighed.

“Well, maybe I could teach you.” Prouvaire offered.

“You’d do that?” Gavroche’s eyes brightened a little.

“Yeah.” Prouvaire smiled, “Maybe I can get the others to help, too.”

“I just wish we were allowed to go to the meetings.” Angie sighed.

“Yeah.” Gavroche agreed.

“It’s up to Enjolras.” Prouvaire said. He looked around, “Do you stay here all day?”

“No, we go out to markets and stuff.” Angie said, “And up to the top.”

“The top?” Prouvaire asked.

“Yeah. The top of the elephant.” Gavroche said.

“I’ve never been to the top.” Prouvaire shrugged. Gavroche and Angie looked at each other and grinned. They both jumped up and started across the floor towards the other side where the original rope ladders still were. Prouvaire stood up.

“Come on! We’ll show you up!” Angie turned back and grinned at him.

“Okay.” Prouvaire went after them. The three climbed up the rope ladders and Angie pushed open the top, climbing out and moving out of the way so both Gavroche and Prouvaire could get out. Prouvaire climbed out and looked out, “Paris.” he breathed.

“Yeah.” Angie smiled, “It’s pretty nice.”

“It’s beautiful.” Prouvaire grinned, “Why, you can see to the walls.” he said, pointing out at the edges of Paris, “How did you find the entrance to here, Angelique?”

“Well, whoever the last person who lived here was, they left open the trapdoor.” Angie shrugged, “Gavroche found the door to the stairs.”

“Well, I’m glad you found it.” Prouvaire smiled, “This is a wonderful experience.”

“Glad you think so.” Gavroche grinned, “Look! It’s Bahorel!” he pointed at a figure approaching the elephant. Prouvaire climbed back down the rope ladders and up the one across the cavern. Running down the stairs and throwing open the door.

“Bahorel, you just have to see this!” Prouvaire said, his face bright.

“What?” Bahorel asked, climbing inside. Prouvaire excitedly grabbed his hand and pulled him upstairs. They both climbed down the rope ladder and went back the way Prouvaire had come. Gavroche and Angie were still sitting up top. Prouvaire led Bahorel up and out and sat down.

“Look. Isn’t it beautiful?” Prouvaire asked, grabbing Bahorel’s hand again in his excitement.

Bahorel’s cheeks reddened a little, “Yeah, it is.” he said, then he looked out, “Is that really Paris?”

“Yeah, look, you can even see the walls from here.” Prouvaire pointed them out to Bahorel.

Bahorel smiled, “Yeah.”

“So, what happened at the meeting?” Gavroche asked.

“Nothing really. I just came to get Prouvaire.” Bahorel shrugged.

“Oh.” Gavroche’s face fell.

“Courfeyrac said he’s going to talk to Enjolras about letting you two coming back.” Bahorel said.

“Really?” Angie asked, her face lighting up.

“But what if he doesn’t let us go back?” Gavroche mumbled.

“It’s been five years. He will change his mind someday.” Prouvaire assured.

“I hope.” Gavroche said, “I really want to help.”

“Me too.” Angie agreed.

“Well, I should probably go.” Prouvaire said, “I suppose Courfeyrac will stop by later with the answer.”

“Yeah, bye.” Angie nodded.

“I’m sure he’ll let you come.” Prouvaire smiled. Bahorel and Prouvaire both climbed back into the elephant and a minute later they left out of the leg.

“Do you think Enjolras will change his mind?” Gavroche asked Angie.

“I don’t know.” Angie shrugged, “I’m gonna go back in and keep working on my drawing.”

“Okay. I’ll wait up here until Courfeyrac comes.” Gavroche said, looking out. Angie looked at him for a moment before climbing back down. A few moments later, Prouvaire came running back up the path towards the elephant. Gavroche saw him and quickly climbed into the elephant, “Angie! Prouvaire’s back!”

“What?” Angie looked up from her drawing.

“Come on!” Gavroche grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the hole in the floor leading down to the tunnel. They climbed through it and dropped out of the bottom. They ran over to where Prouvaire was waiting.

“Hey, why did you come back?” Angie asked the teen.

Prouvaire was grinning, “Courfeyrac ran into us on his way here. He had to go do something so he asked me to come back and tell you the news.”

“What?” Gavroche asked, standing up taller.

“You can go to the next meeting.” Prouvaire smiled.

“Really?” Angie’s eyes widened and she grinned.

“Finally!” Gavroche grinned as well, “When is it?”

“Tuesday.” Prouvaire said, “Courfeyrac said he’ll come and get you when it’s time.”

“Okay.” Gavroche nodded, “What’s today?”

“Sunday.” Prouvaire laughed.

“So…” Gavroche tried to figure out how many days it would be.

“Two days from now.” Prouvaire said. Angie and Gavroche grinned at each other, “I have to go now. See you on Tuesday.” Prouvaire smiled before running back down the path.

“We have to be perfect on Tuesday.” Angie said, turning around and climbing up the rope. Gavroche quickly followed her up, a skill he had finally acquired.

“Yeah.” Gavroche agreed, “We have to not steal before the meeting. After we can, but, not before.”

“‘Course.” Angie nodded, “Or we can just not lead the police there again.”

Gavroche shrugged, “I suppose. Speaking of stealing...I’m starving.”

“Okay. Let me just put away my drawing and then we can go to a market.” Angie said, crawling through the tunnel and climbing out, going over and putting her drawing in the corner of the room. Then, she crawled back through the tunnel and followed Gavroche out of the bottom. Gavroche grabbed the stick they used to close the trapdoor and pushed it closed.

“Let’s go.” Gavroche grinned.


	7. La Superbe Fille

Tuesday came around quickly, Gavroche and Angie waited for Courfeyrac all morning and into the afternoon. Finally, they heard a knock on the trapdoor. They both scrambled into the tunnel and crawled quickly down it, pushing open the trapdoor and tumbling out.

“Is it time to go to the meeting?” Angie asked excitedly, jumping up off the ground.

“Yeah.” Courfeyrac smiled. Gavroche scrambled to his feet.

“Great, we haven’t eaten anything today.” Gavroche said.

“What does that have to do with the meeting?” Courfeyrac asked.

“We haven’t stolen anything yet so we haven’t eaten.” Angie explained.

“Oh, well, we can stop by the market on the way and I can buy you something.” Courfeyrac offered, taking a few coins out of his pocket.

“Nah, that’s no fun.” Angie shrugged, “Come on. Let’s go.” she started skipping towards the Musain, Gavroche and Courfeyrac right behind her.

“I should go in first.” Courfeyrac said once they’d reached the room.

“Okay.” both Gavroche and Angie nodded. Courfeyrac opened the door and led them inside.

“You can sit wherever. Except for at the table with Combeferre, Enjolras, and I.” Courfeyrac said. Angie and Gavroche looked around at everyone. In one corner were Grantaire, Bossuet, and Joly. In another corner were Bahorel, Feuilly, and Prouvaire. In the middle of the room sitting at a table were Enjolras and Combeferre. Courfeyrac walked over and joined them.

“I’m going to go sit with Grantaire.” Angie mumbled to Gavroche.

“I’m going with you.” Gavroche said, grabbing her hand. Angie went over to Grantaire, Bossuet and Joly’s table and pulled an empty chair up to the table. Gavroche did the same.

“Apollo finally let you come to a meeting?” Grantaire asked. He was leaning back in his seat with his feet up on the table, bottle in hand.

“Apollo? You mean Enjolras?” Gavroche asked.

“No, Apollo. I thought we talked about this.” Grantaire said. Gavroche raised his eyebrows and looked at Angie, who shrugged.

“So, what do you talk about during the meetings?” Angie asked.

“Enjolras talks, we listen.” Bossuet said.

“Yeah, but, what about?” Angie rolled her eyes.

“About his visions for the future.” Bossuet shrugged, “He should start talking soon.” A young woman walked into the room and walked over to their table. Joly quickly jumped to his feet and got her a chair.

“Thank you.” the woman smiled. She looked around and noticed Gavroche and Angie, “Who are you two?” she asked.

“I’m Angie.” Angie said. She looked at Gavroche, who’s mouth was hanging open, “Gav.” she hissed, elbowing him. He closed his mouth and looked at her.

“Oh, I’m Gavroche.” Gavroche said quickly, “Who are you?”

“My name’s Musichetta.” the young woman smiled. She opened her purse, “Joly, Lesgle, can I use that table over there to work on my flag?”

“I don’t see why not.” Bossuet shrugged. Musichetta grinned and moved her chair over to the table, taking a piece of cloth out of it and laying it on the table. Enjolras stood up.

“She’s pretty.” Gavroche said.

“Well, you’re a little too late.” Bossuet smiled, “She’s taken.”

“What do you mean?” Gavroche asked.

“I mean she’s already in a relationship.” Bossuet said.

“With who?” Gavroche asked.

“Bossuet and I.” Joly said.

“Both of you?” Angie frowned, “But shouldn’t a relationship be just two people?”

“Well…” Bossuet thought, “Our relationship is different.”

Angie shrugged, “Whatever. Why did Enjolras let her come?” she looked at Musichetta.

“He didn’t. He basically said the same thing to her that he said to you.” Bossuet said, “But since he’s letting you two come now, he decided that ‘Chetta could come, too.”

“Oh.” Angie said, turning back.

“I need your attention!” Enjolras said from the middle of the room, “Attention!” everyone turned their attention to Enjolras, “I wanted to take the time today to talk about the new members of our group; Gavroche, Musichetta, and Angelique.”

“Why?” Angie muttered to Gavroche. He shrugged.

“Now, their part of this group will never be official.” Enjolras began.

“What? Why?” Angie asked, standing up.

“Because you aren’t really a part of the group.” Enjolras said, “Now sit down and let me finish.”

“We’re as much a part of the group as you are!” Angie said, crossing her arms.

“No, you are just children.” Enjolras shook his head.

“Musichetta’s not.” Angie pointed out.

“Angelique, sit down.” Enjolras said, “Or get out.” he pointed at the door. Angie glared at him for a few seconds before sitting down.

“It’s okay, Angie.” Gavroche whispered, “As long as we’re allowed to come, it’ll be fine.”

“But it’s not the same.” Angie muttered.

“As I was saying…” Enjolras said, “Their part of the group will never be official. The only thing they will do is come to the meetings. I want to make sure you three understand that you are never to take part in any actions we take.”

“Whatever. I’m okay with that.” Musichetta said, “I won’t do anything, as long as I can be present.”

“If it gets too dangerous, you will leave.” Enjolras said.

“Of course.” Musichetta nodded.

“Gavroche? Angelique?” Enjolras asked, turning to the two, “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“No.” Angie shook her head, “I don’t understand. We can help.”

“No, you can’t.” Enjolras said, “Now. Let me get to what this meeting is actually about now that I’ve wasted time on that.” Enjolras made a speech about how the world is getting worse and other things that were happening.

“So when’s something gonna happen?” Angie asked Courfeyrac after the meeting.

“Well, not for a while.” Courfeyrac sighed, “We don’t have enough power to do anything yet.”

“Oh. Well, what do you need?” Angie asked.

“Nothing yet.” Courfeyrac said, smiling, “You and Gavroche go on home. I’ll come by later.”

“Okay.” Angie skipped over to where Gavroche was talking to Prouvaire, “Come on, Gav. Let’s go.”

“Okay.” Gavroche said, “Bye, Prouvaire.”

“See you two at the next meeting.” Prouvaire smiled before walking out of the room.

“So, what did you think of the meeting?” Bossuet asked, walking up to them.

“It was okay.” Angie shrugged, “Is Musichetta gonna come every week?”

“I sure hope so.” Musichetta said from behind them, “I enjoy listening to what they all have to say.”

Angie whirled around, “Oh, hi!” she said.

“Hi.” Musichetta smiled softly, “I hope to see you two every week as well.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Angie nodded, “Of course.” she glanced at Gavroche, who was staring at Musichetta, “We’d better get going.” she said, grabbing Gavroche’s arm and pulling him to the door.

“Okay, well, see you next week.” Musichetta waved, smiling.

“Yeah!” Angie said, pulling Gavroche out of the room and down the hall.

“Hey! I can walk by myself!” Gavroche said, pulling his arm away from her.

“Why were you staring at her like that?” Angie asked, crossing her arms and looking at her.

Gavroche’s cheeks pinkened, “Cause she’s pretty.” he mumbled.

“You don’t stare at me like that.” Angie said.

“Well, I just don’t think you’re pretty.” Gavroche said, then realized what he said, “Wait! No! That’s not what I meant! You’re pretty!”

“Y-you don’t think I’m pretty?” Angie asked, “Well fine.” she turned away from him.

“No! I do think you’re pretty!” Gavroche said, “I just don’t look at you like that because I’ve known you for so long that it just passes through my mind?” he said, trying to come up with something.

“Whatever. Let’s go get something to eat.” Angie rolled her eyes and stalked out of the cafe. Gavroche quickly followed her.


	8. L'inspecteur

Gavroche and Angie kept going to the meetings, making sure not to make the same mistakes they had the first time. They cut down going to the market and stealing to only twice a week, since one of the days Courfeyrac brought them food before they went to the meeting. Changing their lifestyle was hard, but Angie insisted they had to so they wouldn’t make Enjolras hate them even more than he did. Two years passed without any problems. On 29 June, 1831, they had problems again.

“Come on, Gav.” Angie called, scrambling down the rope, “I’m starving!”

“Coming!” Gavroche appeared at the trapdoor and climbed down the rope after her. He threw it up and closed the trapdoor.

“Let’s go!” Angie said, grabbing his hand and running away from the elephant. Gavroche laughed as they ran down the streets towards a market. They slowed before they reached it and calmly walked through it, looking for food.

“There.” Gavroche whispered to Angie, pointing at a cart with cheese on it.

Angie licked her lips, “Haven’t had cheese since earlier this year.” they quickly made their way over to the cart, not bothering to check for police.

“Excuse me, madame?” Gavroche picked up a piece of cheese and walked up to the woman at the counter, “How much for this?”

“Two francs, dear.” the woman smiled.

“Oh.” Gavroche’s face drooped, “I only got a few centimes.” he reached into his pocket and acted like he was rummaging around in it.

“Well, I’m sorry, I’ve got to make money.” the woman said, turning away from him.

Gavroche glared at her back, “Fine. I’ll just take it, then.” he growled. He turned and grabbed another piece of cheese, stuffing them in his pocket, Angie did the same. Then, they both started running.

The woman spun around, “Police! Stop them!” Four policemen, including Inspector Javert, ran out of an alley nearby the cheese cart.

“Which ones?” Javert asked the woman.

“The two boys. One had blonde hair and the other was wearing a hat.” the woman said quickly, “They stole my cheese!” she said, “And some of my santimes!” she added quickly. Javert nodded and began chase.

“We should split up and go into the alleys to the side. Then run up the next streets.” he said to his men, “We can run faster than them and cut them off up there.” he pointed forward, “You two go that way. You go that way. I’ll stay in the middle.” he instructed. The men nodded and split up. Javert kept his eyes locked on the two boys that the woman had described. Bad thing for them, he recognized them. He had seen them a few times over the years, always getting into trouble. But they always seemed to slip out of his grasp. Like Valjean. He wasn’t going to let another thief slip away from him again. He continued pursuing the two children until he saw his men come out of an alley ahead. There was no escape for the two little rats, he had finally caught them. They stopped when they saw the three officers up ahead and turned around to run the other way when they saw Javert. Two of Javert’s men grabbed them from behind.

“Get off of me!” the boy with the hat covering his hair and top half of his face yelled, struggling. His high pitched voice made Javert nearly double take, it seemed very high pitched for his age. Sure, the boy looked like he was five, but Javert had seen him for maybe seven years. That would make the boy at least nine or ten. Javert shook an idea out of his mind and walked up to the two boys.

“Seems like you’ve nowhere left to run.” he said, “Come along, men. I’ll take these two back. One of you come with me. The other two stay here.” One man quickly stepped forward, “Alright. You take that one, I’ll take this one.” he gestured for the other man to take the blonde boy, grabbing the boy with the hat himself. When he yanked the boy closer, it caused his hat to fall off his head, red curls tumbled out.

“My hat!” the redhead said, reaching out to it.

“You’re a girl?” Javert asked, looking at her face, he frowned.

“Yeah.” the girl said, trying to pull away from him, “Can I have my hat back?” Javert nodded at one of the men and he picked up the hat, handing it back to the girl. She shoved it on top of her head, not bothering to put her hair back in it.

“Come on.” Javert said the officer holding the blonde haired boy. They mostly dragged the two children to the police station. Once inside, they took the two children to two cells, throwing them in the different ones and locking the doors.

“I want a lawyer!” the girl yelled.

“You don’t get a lawyer.” Javert furrowed his brow, “How do you even know what a lawyer is?”

“Hey, poor people can know stuff, too.” the girl crossed her arms.

“I need your names.” Javert sighed.

“Angelique.” the girls said proudly.

“Angie.” the boy looked at her, “Don’t actually tell him your name.”

“Oh.” the girl, Angie, said, “Right. That’s not my name.” she said to Javert.

“Your name?” Javert asked the boy, sitting down and taking out a quill and ink, dipping the quill in the ink and writing something in his notepad

“I’m not telling you.” the boy said, turning away. Then, he saw a man sitting in the corner of the cell and his eyes became wide and he turned around, “Why is he here?” he asked.

“Stealing.” Javert sighed, “What? You know him?”

“Please. I’ll do anything to switch to a different place.” the boy said, glancing back worriedly.

“Well, if you tell me your name, I’ll think about it.” Javert said.

The boy hesitated, “Fine. Gavroche.” Javert quickly wrote that down.

“Got a last name?” Javert asked, “Either of you?”

“Thenardier.” Gavroche sighed.

“Oh. That’s how you know him.” Javert said, “He came in here with a ‘Thenardier’.”

“He did?” Gavroche asked, “Last time I saw either of them, they were in separate groups.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Javert said, turning to Angie, “Last name?”

“I-I forgot.” Angie said quickly.

“People have tried that before.” Javert said, “What is it?”

“Fine.” Angie muttered, “Lawrence.”

“Really?” Gavroche asked, “Angelique Lawrence. Sounds nice.”

Angie sighed, “It’s whatever.”

“So, can I get out of here now?” Gavroche asked.

“No.” Javert shook his head, “You’re going to be in there with him until one of your trials.”

“What? Why?” Gavroche asked, “Please! You gotta let me outta here!” he shook the bars. Javert just shook his head and left.

“Who is it?” Angie asked, straining to try and look at the man behind Gavroche.

“He’s a member of my father’s group.” Gavroche said, “I’ve seen them around town a lot. There have been a few times quite recently that I’ve stolen stuff off of him.”

“Is he a new member?” Angie asked, “I don’t recognize him.”

“Yeah, and according to some rumors I’ve heard, he’s already killed six people.” Gavroche said, “And I’ve already pissed him off.”

“Oh. Great.” Angie said, throwing her hands up in the air, “I guess you just have to hope he doesn’t wake up.”

“Is there someone in your cell?” Gavroche asked.

“Some girl.” Angie shrugged, looking behind her, “She looks like she’s only a few years older than us.”

“Maybe you should wake her up. See who she is.” Gavroche suggested.

“Well...okay.” Angie carefully approached the sleeping girl and shook her gently.

“Shake her harder.” Gavroche said. Angie rolled her eyes and shook the girl awake.

“Mama, is it time to get up already?” the girl asked sleepily.

“What?” Angie asked, stepping back.

“You aren’t my mama.” the girl frowned, “Oh. I’m in jail. Again.”

“Again?” Angie asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, my papa will get us out soon.” the girl shrugged, “Who are you?”

“I’m Angie, and that’s Gavroche.” Angie pointed at Gavroche, who waved a little.

“I’m Azelma.” the girl said, standing up. She had auburn hair and bright green eyes.

“Azelma?” Gavroche asked, “Really?”

“Yeah.” Azelma said, confused, “Do I know you?”

“It’s me!” Gavroche said, “Your brother!”

“My brother’s dead.” Azelma said, crossing her arms, “He died years ago.”

“No! I’m not dead!” Gavroche said, “It’s really me! Ask me something about when I still lived with you, mama, papa, Eponine, and Cosette.”

“Well...um...what was the color of the dress on my favorite doll?” Azelma asked.

“Oh, you mean the one I ripped the head off of?” Gavroche asked, “It was pink, wasn’t it?”

“That was too easy.” Azelma said.

“I ripped its head off! How is knowing that too easy?” Gavroche asked.

“Oh! Right!” Azelma said, “I guess you really aren’t dead! Wait ‘till ‘Ponine finds out!”

“Is she here?” Gavroche asked, half hoping that she was, but, then again, he didn’t exactly want his sister to be in jail.

“No. She never gets caught.” Azelma sighed, “Lucky for her, too. Last time I was here, I was stuck with mama. She won’t stop complaining.” she quickly looked around to make sure their mother wasn’t at least within earshot range. Azelma spotted her a few cells down, asleep against the wall.

“Yeah. I remember some of her complaining.” Gavroche smiled a little, “The parts I heard were her complaining about Cosette’s work and the fact that I’m a boy.”

“Really? I didn’t really hear much of that.” Azelma shrugged.

“Well, yeah, she would always send you and Eponine out of the room before she beat me.” Gavroche said.

“She beat you? I thought she only did that to Cosette!” Azelma looked totally appalled.

“You didn’t notice?” Gavroche asked, “Some of the scars didn’t fade.” he lifted up his shirt and showed her his side, which had scars running across it.

“Are you sure? Mama didn’t seem like she would beat you. Just Cosette. And that was okay.” Azelma said.

“That wasn’t okay! How could you say that?” Gavroche’s smile disappeared.

“Well, I don’t know.” Azelma shrugged. Javert walked back into the room.

“You, girl.” he pointed at Azelma, “You can leave.” he pulled out his baton and pushed Angie back away from the bars. Azelma walked up close to the bars as Javert unlocked them. When he had unlocked them, he opened them to let Azelma get out. Angie tried to slip out after her but on succeeded in getting hit by Javert’s baton. She fell back into the cell and Javert shut and locked it after her. Then, he escorted Azelma out. Angie scooted to the back of the cell and pulled her knees to her chest. Gavroche sat down and leaned against the bars on the side of the cell.


	9. Le Criminel de Carrière

Gavroche woke up to an arm wrapping around his neck from behind him. He yelped in surprise and slipped out of the person’s grip. He jumped to his feet and looked wildly behind him. The person who had done this was none other than Babet, the scrawny dentist who was part of Gavroche’s father’s group. Gavroche heard a laugh from behind him and whirled around to come face-to-face with Montparnasse. Montparnasse was tall for seventeen, with a slender waist. He was completed by his curly black hair and entrancing green eyes.

“I was wondering if that would wake you up.” he chuckled.

“S-stay away from me.” Gavroche said, backing up against the wall.

“You know, your father has told me about you. At least what he knows.” Montparnasse said, “After you stole from me the first time, I was curious. It’s not good when I’m curious about you.” he said, the last line sounded like he was trying to talk to a two year old.

“What did he tell you?” Gavroche asked.

“Well, that when you were younger and still lived with them, you were a rebellious twat.” Montparnasse began, “And that was the cause for beatings; that you stopped resisting after some time. I was also told that you’ve been living on the streets for nearly seven years.”

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, “I suppose that’s all right.”

“So, are you still less resistant to beatings?” Montparnasse asked, smirking.

Gavroche pressed himself against the wall, “Don’t.”

“What’re you going to do about it?” Montparnasse asked. He slid something out of the sole of his shoe, a knife.

“Woah, t-that’s a knife!” Gavroche yelped, trying to press himself into the wall.

“No, I thought it was a lollipop.” Montparnasse said sarcastically. Gavroche’s yelp woke up Angie and she blinked awake, scanning the room for the source of what woke her up. Her eyes widened when she saw Montparnasse advancing on Gavroche with the knife.

“Hey! Stop!” she yelled.

Montparnasse turned around and looked at her, “I’m sorry?”

“I said ‘stop’!” Angie yelled.

“Yeah, right.” Montparnasse rolled his eyes and turned back to Gavroche.

“Step back! Or-or I’ll scream!” Angie said, trying to threaten him the only way she could.

“Go ahead, they won’t care.” Montparnasse scoffed. He grabbed Gavroche by the scruff of his shirt and began to drag his knife across Gavroche’s cheek. Angie took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could. It was ear piercing, causing Montparnasse to drop the knife and Gavroche to cover his ears.

“Hey! Quiet down in here!” a police officer said, bursting into the room, “Who was that?” he raised his baton.

“H-he has a knife!” Angie said, pointing at Montparnasse. The police officer didn’t even glance at Montparnasse, walking to Angie’s cell. He unlocked the door and opened it.

“How about I teach you a lesson?” the officer growled. He grabbed Angie and raised his baton, striking her across the face with it.

“Angie!” Gavroche said. He tried to crawl to the bars but Montparnasse grabbed him and yanked him back, picking up the knife again. The officer hit Angie a few more times before leaving the cell and locking it. He crossed to Montparnasse and Gavroche’s cell.

“Knife.” he said, holding out his hand. Montparnasse sighed and handed the knife to the officer without letting go of Gavroche. The officer nodded and left. Gavroche struggled to get out of Montparnasse’s grasp, his eyes fixed on where Angie was curled up on the floor in her cell, blood coming out of her nose where the baton had hit her the first time.

“What did I tell you?” Montparnasse asked, “He doesn’t care. The only thing he’ll do is take away the knife. He doesn’t care what I do, as long as it’s not a threat to them.” Gavroche struggled more.

“Let me go.” he said.

“Fine.” Montparnasse said. He threw Gavroche into the bars and Babet grabbed Gavroche through the bars, restraining him. Babet grabbed a rope he had underneath the bed and tied Gavroche’s arms on his side of the bars, so he couldn’t move away from the spot. Montparnasse smirked again and punched Gavroche hard in the nose, causing it to start to bleed, “Look. Now you and your friend match.” he laughed.

Gavroche lashed out and tried to kick him, unsuccessfully, “Untie me!” he yelled through the blood that had now run down to his chin.

“You know, I was only going to hit you two or three times, but I think that I should keep adding each time you retaliate.” Montparnasse said. He punched Gavroche again, this time in the stomach. Gavroche doubled over, biting his lip in order not to say or do anything. Montparnasse kicked him in the jaw, causing Gavroche to yell out in pain. Montparnasse pulled him back up, “Babet, hold him here.” Babet held Gavroche up. Montparnasse punched him in the stomach again, “You know what? Babet, untie him.”

“Why?” Babet frowned.

“It’s no fun just having him  _ not _ fighting back.” Montparnasse said.

“Oh, okay.” Babet untied Gavroche and threw the rope back under his bed. Gavroche crumpled to the ground.

“Get up.” Montparnasse said. When Gavroche didn’t move, he nudged him with his foot, “Get up!” Gavroche slowly stood up, blood covered the bottom half of his face.

“W-what do you want me to do?” Gavroche asked, “I don’t want to fight you.”

“Well too bad.” Montparnasse said, “We’ll fight until I knock you out. Or kill you. One of those.”

Gavroche took a shaky breath, “I said I don’t want to.”

“And I said too bad.” Montparnasse said, “Now, come on.” he put up his fists, “You go first.”

“No.” Gavroche shook his head again. He scanned the cell for a way out and his eyes landed on the window. Even though it was barred, they were wide enough apart for him to slip through. He looked across at Angie and signaled to her to look up. She looked up at the ceiling and then spotted the window, turning around and nodding. Gavroche dashed behind Montparnasse and climbed on the bed, pushing himself up to the window and squeezing between the bars. Angie did the same, easily crawling out.

“I don’t think so.” Montparnasse growled, grabbing Gavroche’s leg. Gavroche kicked at Montparnasse, trying to shake him off. He climbed halfway out and looked for something to grab onto. Nearby was a pole holding up the overhanging, Gavroche wrapped his arms around it and tried to pull himself out. That only caused Montparnasse to pull harder on his leg. As Gavroche started losing his grip on the pole, Angie appeared at the end of the building. She started running towards him. Gavroche’s hands slipped from around the pole and Montparnasse pulled him back towards the cell. Gavroche grabbed the bars and tried to pull himself back out. Angie reached the window and grabbed his arms, bracing her feet against the bottom of the window and pulling him. Gavroche kicked Montparnasse hard in the nose, causing him to let go and stumble back. Angie pulled Gavroche out and they both scrambled to their feet.

“I win.” Gavroche said, glaring at Montparnasse. Montparnasse climbed onto the bed and reached out the window, trying to grab him again. Gavroche and Angie started running away from the police station.

“Come on, let’s go get that cheese.” Angie said, smiling.

“Yeah.” Gavroche smiled back. They ran to the market and this time used the alley to get the cheese, checking for police officers.


	10. Le Nouveau Venu

When Gavroche and Angie got back to the elephant, Courfeyrac was pacing underneath it. He had come to see them and had searched the whole elephant to find them.

“Where have you two been?” he asked when they walked up.

“Oh, we got arrested.” Angie said simply, walking past him and to the leg. She climbed up the stairs and opened the door, hopping inside. Gavroche followed her.

“You were arrested?” Courfeyrac quickly followed them.

“Yeah.” Angie shrugged, “No biggie, we got out.”

“Is that blood on your faces?” Courfeyrac asked.

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, turning away, “Got in a little fight. Angie got beat by a police officer.”

“What?” Courfeyrac was trying to process what was happening, “Fight? With who?”

“Montparnasse. He’s one of my father’s guys.” Gavroche said, “He was in the same cell as me.”

“W-what?” Courfeyrac asked. Angie bounded up the stairs, Gavroche right behind him, “Wait! Tell me what happened!”

“I’ll tell you if you come inside.” Angie turned back briefly.

“Fine.” Courfeyrac sighed and followed them up the stairs. Angie and Gavroche led him down the rope ladder and into the cavern.

“Gav, you explain it.” Angie said, going over to her sketchbook and drawing something.

Gavroche rolled his eyes a little, “Well, we went to get some cheese from the lady at the cheese stand in the market. Then, we got caught stealing it and so we were put in cells in a jail. I was put in one with Montparnasse and Angie was put in one with my sister Azelma.”

“Wait. Your sister?” Courfeyrac asked, “You have another sister other than Eponine.”

“Yeah. I had two and a half sisters.” Gavroche said.

“Two and a half?” Courfeyrac furrowed his brow.

“Eponine and Azelma were my actual sisters but Cosette was more like a sister to me then they were.” Gavroche explained.

“Oh. Well, continue your story.” Courfeyrac said.

“Okay. Well, we both fell asleep in the cells and I woke up to Babet, another one of my father’s guys, wrapping his arm around my neck from the cell next to us.” Gavroche said, “I slipped out of his grip and then I saw Montparnasse and he had a knife. Then, Angie woke up and screamed to get attention. That only got her beaten by the police guy.”

“He did take the knife away, though.” Angie spoke up.

“Yeah, right.” Gavroche nodded, “Well, then, Montparnasse had Babet tie my arms on the other side of the bars.”

“Then he beat you up.” Angie smirked.

“Not as bad as you were.” Gavroche crossed his arms.

“You crumpled to the floor when they untied you.” Angie laughed, “I’d say that’s worse.”

“You were curled up in a ball after being hit a few times.” Gavroche stuck his tongue out at her.

“Wait, what did your sister do?” Courfeyrac asked.

“Oh, they came and got her. She left.” Gavroche said, “Well, anyways. He tried to get me to fight him, but I said no. Then, I saw that the bars on the window were just big enough for me to get out and small enough that Montparnasse couldn’t follow. I signaled to Angie and we both climbed out. Then we went to get cheese and came back here.”

“You forgot the part where Montparnasse nearly dragged you back into the cell.” Angie said, “And that I saved you.”

“No, you didn’t.” Gavroche frowned, “I kicked him in the face and he let go.”

“Yeah, right.” Angie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“It’s true!” Gavroche argued.

“Hey, do you two want to come back to my place? There’s someone I want you to meet.” Courfeyrac said.

“Sure.” Gavroche shrugged, “Come on, Angie.”

Angie put her sketchbook down and stood up, “Who is it?”

“His name is Marius Pontmercy.” Courfeyrac said, “I’m trying to get him to join our group, but, I don’t seem to be successful.”

“Oh, well, we’ll change his mind.” Gavroche said, “Let’s go.” Courfeyrac led them out of the elephant and down the street to his home.

“Here we are.” he said once they’d reached the apartment complex.

“Is this all yours?” Gavroche asked, looking at it.

“No.” Courfeyrac laughed, “I live in one of the apartments.” He led them up the stairs to an apartment, “Combeferre came over earlier to try to change his mind, he might still be here.” he opened the door and, sure enough, Combeferre and another man were sitting on the couch.

“Courfeyrac, stop trying to convince me to go to a meeting.” the other man, presumably Marius, said.

“Oh, come on.” Courfeyrac smiled, “I have two new people to try and convince you.”

Marius frowned, “Two children?”

“My name is Angelique Lawrence.” Angie said, putting her hand out to him, “And I think you would enjoy the meetings. At least come to one and try it out.”

Marius shook her hand a little hesitantly, “You let children go to the meetings?”

“Why wouldn’t they let children go to the meetings?” Gavroche asked, stepping into the room.

“What’s your name?” Marius asked.

“Gavroche Thenardier.” Gavroche said, proudly saying his first name and faltering on his last.

“Wait. Thenardier?” Marius asked, freezing.

“Yeah. Sadly.” Gavroche frowned, “Why? Do you know my family?”

“A certain Monsieur Thenardier saved my father on the battlefield.” Marius said.

“That doesn’t sound like my papa.” Gavroche frowned, “When?”

“1815.” Marius said, “The Battle of Waterloo.”

“Oh, that was before my time.” Gavroche said, “That’s the year my older sister was born, though.”

“Oh.” Marius’ face fell a little, “Do you know where I can find your father?”

“Jail, I think.” Gavroche said, “Unless they escaped, too.”

“What?” Combeferre stood up, “Too? You mean you were in jail?”

“Well, yeah.” Angie said, “But we got out. It was easy.”

“I’m not explaining it again.” Gavroche said.

“They stole cheese.” Courfeyrac explained.

Combeferre checked his watch, “Oh, I’d better go.” he put a hand on Marius’ shoulder, “I hope to see you at the next meeting.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Marius said. Combeferre smiled a little before leaving.

“Maybe.” Courfeyrac said, “We’re getting closer.”

“Why don’t you want to come to a meeting?” Angie asked Marius.

“I’m just busy with school, I suppose.” Marius shrugged.

“Come on, we have a meeting on Tuesday, after school.” Courfeyrac said, “Please.”

“Fine.” Marius sighed, “But just this meeting.”

“Unless you like going.” Angie grinned, “That’s what happened with us.”

“But it took five years for Enjolras to finally let us go.” Gavroche smiled, “But, we go every time now.”

“You two should go back home.” Courfeyrac said, “And no stealing on the way. We don’t need you to get shipped off somewhere because of how many times you’ve stolen.”

“Okay. See you on Tuesday.” Angie waved to Marius before running out of the room and down the stairs.

“You don’t want to meet my father, by the way.” Gavroche said to Marius, “He’s not a good person. I think your father was wrong about who saved him.”

“No, he wasn’t wrong.” Marius shook his head. Gavroche just shrugged and followed Angie down the stairs. Tuesday, Marius went to the meeting. He went to several meetings after that, but there was one meeting that made him stop going.

“The 18th of June, 1815: Waterloo.” Bahorel’s voice said in the midst of the talking. He said it to Combeferre.

“Of course!” Courfeyrac exclaimed, “The number 18 is what’s striking. It’s Bonaparte’s fatal number.”

“The crime by the expiation.” Enjolras said.

Marius stood up, “I’m a newcomer and honestly, you astound me.  Be just! Who do you admire, if not the emperor? Who would you like if you do not like him? It’s a wonderful destiny for the people to be the empire for such an emperor. What can be more grand?”

“To be free.” Combeferre said simply. Marius seemed struck by these simple words and he looked down.

“My mother…” Marius muttered.

“My mother is the republic.” Enjolras said, placing his hand on Marius’ shoulder. Marius pulled away and left the cafe.

“Well, that was interesting.” Grantaire said from the corner table. Enjolras glared at him, causing him to choke on his wine a little, “I’m sorry, Apollo, have I upset you?”

“Stop calling me that.” Enjolras grumbled, walking over to the table next to Grantaire’s and started stacking the fliers on the table.

“Why? I think you should go by your name.” Grantaire said, taking a swig of his wine.

“My name is Enjolras, I am not a god.” Enjolras said, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, but yes you are.” Grantaire said dramatically, “You are the great Apollo, god of the sun and light, music, truth and prophecy, of healing, plague, poetry and so much more.”

“Grantaire, I am no such thing.” Enjolras said, turning to him, “I am just a simple man.”

“Of course.” Grantaire said, then he winked, “That’s what everyone needs to think.”

Enjolras sighed, “Grantaire, maybe if you stopped focusing so much on drinking and becoming drunk, you would actually get things done.”

“There is another thing I focus on.” Grantaire said, taking another swig.

“Oh? And what may that be?” Enjolras asked.

“You.” Grantaire smiled smugly.

“Someone take Grantaire home, he’s clearly too drunk.” Enjolras said.

“I’ve got him.” Bossuet sighed, standing up and walking over to Grantaire’s table, “Joly, come help me!” Joly got up and went to help Joly. Bossuet put his arm under one of Grantaire’s armpits and Joly did the same on the other side.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Grantaire argued.

“Come on, we’re taking you home.” Bossuet said.

Joly had a look of pure disgust on his face, “As long as I don’t catch anything from you.”

“I’ll try not to puke on your shoes.” Grantaire smirked. Joly cringed.

“Come on.” Bossuet said, rolling his eyes. He started walking towards the door.

“I’ll go with you.” Musichetta said, rolling up a red piece of cloth and putting it in her basket before standing up and following them.

“Why was Marius so angry?” Gavroche whispered to Courfeyrac.

“He wasn’t.” Courfeyrac sighed, “It’s just that… well… he has different beliefs.”

“You mean like religion?” Gavroche frowned.

“No, different political beliefs.” Courfeyrac shook his head.

“Oh, you mean like the king and stuff.” Gavroche said.

“Yeah, sure.” Courfeyrac smiled and ruffled Gavroche’s hair a little.

“Come on, let’s go back to the elephant.” Angie said, grabbed Gavroche’s hand and pulling him to the door.

“Remember, no stealing!” Courfeyrac called after them.

“It’s Tuesday, we don’t steal on Tuesdays!” Angie called back before running down the hallway, Gavroche in tow.


	11. Elle Se Soucie

Marius never came back to the meetings, but Gavroche and Angie still saw him on the streets. Every time they did, there always seemed to be a brunette maybe in her mid-teen years who followed him around. She seemed to do it secretly, though. One day, Gavroche and Angie decided to approach the strange girl. One day, they were walking down the street and they saw Monsieur Marius and the girl near Luxembourg Gardens.

“Look, there’s that girl.” Angie said, pointing her out to Gavroche.

“Come on, let’s ask her what she’s doing.” Gavroche said, starting to walk towards her.

“Okay.” Angie nodded and followed him. The girl was behind a tree, watching Marius sitting on a bench.

“Hey, why do you keep following Marius?” Gavroche asked once they had gotten close to the girl.

“Huh?” the girl whirled around, “I’m not...what do you...Who are you and how do you know Monsieur Marius?”

“He used to be our friend.” Angie said, “How do  _ you _ know him?”

“He lives next door to my family.” the girl said, turning back around and smiling as she looked at Marius.

“Why are you following him?” Gavroche asked.

“Because I want to.” the girl frowned at him, “Do I know you from somewhere?”

“You’ve probably seen us running around.” Gavroche shrugged, “What’s your name? I’m Gavroche.” he put his hand out.

“Eponine.” the girl said, shaking it.

“Wait. Eponine?” Gavroche asked, “As in Eponine Thenardier?”

“W-what?” Eponine’s eyes grew wide, “N-no… Jondrette.”

“Oh.” Gavroche’s face fell.

“Why would you think that was my name?” Eponine asked.

“My sister’s name is Eponine Thenardier.” Gavroche said.

“Wait, really?” Eponine asked, “I knew I recognized you from somewhere!”

“What?” Gavroche frowned, “What do you mean?”

“I thought you died.” Eponine said.

“‘Ponine?” Gavroche asked, “I knew it!” he hugged her.

Eponine looked surprised, “Um...I don’t...hug.” she said awkwardly.

“Oh.” Gavroche stepped back, “You look a lot different.”

“You do, too.” Eponine smiled, “You’ve grown a lot.”

“Gavroche.” Angie said.

“Well, you’re dirty. From what I remember, you hated getting dirty.” Gavroche said.

“Gav…” Angie said a little louder.

“Mama and Papa lost all of their money and the inn, then when we moved here, we had to find an apartment, and now we don’t have any different clothes or a way to get clean.” Eponine said.

“Gavroche!” Angie practically yelled.

“What?” Gavroche turned around and looked at her. She pointed down the path where Javert and a few other officers were walking towards them. A man who was sitting on a bench with a girl around Eponine’s age quickly stood up and started walking away from where the men were. They walked past Marius and his eyes stayed trained on the girl. She glanced at him and as soon as their eyes met, they both looked away and turned pink.

“Oh no, the police.” Eponine mumbled.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think they care about you.” Gavroche said, smiling a little at her, “We’ve kinda had some meetings with Inspector Javert. He’s even arrested us once but we escaped. We saw Azelma then!”

“You saw Azelma and she didn’t tell me?” Eponine asked.

“Guess she forgot.” Gavroche shrugged, “Did you get arrested?”

“No, I got away. I try my hardest not to get involved in the schemes.” Eponine said.

“Hey, you!” Javert yelled, pointing at them. He started running towards them, his men on his heels.

“Quick, lets climb up the tree!” Angie said, starting to do so.

“But then they’ll just wait us out!” Gavroche protested.

“We can’t outrun them. And besides, they won’t stay there forever.” Angie said.

“I think that’s actually a good idea.” Eponine said, following Angie up. Gavroche sighed and climbed up after them.

“Come down from there!” Javert yelled up at them once he and his men reached the tree.

“Nah, we’re good.” Angie said, smirking down at him.

“Come down here right now!” Javert ordered.

“You sound like my mother.” Gavroche laughed.

“Yeah, he does.” Eponine laughed a little.

“Any of you men good at climbing trees?” Javert turned to his men. One of them stepped forward and raised his hand, “Climb up and fetch them.” Javert said, “I honestly don’t care if you throw them out of the tree if you must, just get them down.”

“Yes sir.” the man said, saluting Javert briefly before beginning to climb the tree, not nearly as skillfully as the children, but still good for an adult.

“Angie, I think I found a hole in your idea.” Gavroche said, scrambling to climb higher.

“I didn’t expect any of them to be able to climb.” Angie said, climbing up as well.

“We’re running out of tree!” Gavroche said, reaching the last branch that they were capable of sitting on.

“I’ll climb down and distract them, you run.” Eponine said.

“No, wait! They’ll arrest you!” Gavroche said, grabbing her arm.

“They have nothing to arrest me for.” Eponine said.

“That hasn’t stopped them before.” Angie scoffed.

“Just get ready to run.” Eponine sighed.

“I don’t want you to get punished cause of us.” Gavroche said, grabbing his sister’s hand.

“I’ll be fine, little brother.” Eponine smiled, “I can run quickly.”

“Gavroche.” he murmured.

“What?” Eponine asked.

“My name is Gavroche, has been for a while.” Gavroche said.

“Well, I’m glad to know you finally found a name.” Eponine smiled.

“Please, I really don’t want you to do this for us.” Gavroche pleaded.

Angie suddenly screamed as a hand wrapped around her ankle. The officer had climbed to right below where they were and since Angie was the lowest, he went for her first, “Get off of me!” Angie screamed, trying to kick him. He pulled her off the branch and sent her tumbling to the ground, screaming.

“Angie!” Gavroche yelled. He climbed down a little bit but Eponine grabbed him.

“Gavroche, wait!” she said, pulling him back up another branch. The officer was right below them now.

“Stop it! Get off of me! Let me go!” Angie was yelling at two officers who grabbed her and pulled her two her feet. She tried to stand but yelled out in pain when she put weight on one of her ankles.

“Eponine, we have to get out of here.” Gavroche said, beginning to panic.

“I think I can carry Angie, she looks light enough.” Eponine said.

“Okay, but how do we get down?” Gavroche asked, looking at the officer who was close.

“We just climb down.” Eponine frowned, “Umm, maybe we can push him down into the other officers.”

“Okay.” Gavroche said, “Ready?” Eponine nodded, “One...Two...Three!” they both used their feet to push down on the officer’s shoulders. The officer fell but on his way down grabbed onto one of the branches and started to climb up again.

“Seriously?” Eponine asked.

“Come on, we can still go down.” Gavroche said, starting his descent.

“But they’ll arrest us.” Eponine said.

“Not if we run quickly.” Gavroche grinned.

“Well...alright.” Eponine nodded and started climbing down as well. Gavroche switched to the other side of the tree than the police officer was on a kept climbing, Eponine right above him. The officer tried to grab them but failed, nearly falling out of the tree. He quickly scrambled down and stood with the rest of the officers.

“So you’ve changed your minds?” Javert asked when Gavroche stopped on a branch just out of his reach.

“Me? Change my mind about this kinda thing?” Gavroche asked with mock surprise, “Never.” he leapt off the branch and to the ground, breaking his fall with a roll. Eponine quickly followed him, pulling Angie away from the officers and picking her up before running after Gavroche.

“After them!” Javert yelled, beginning pursuit.

“We’ve gotta outrun them!” Gavroche said, looking at Eponine.

“This way!” Eponine said, leading him down a street, Angie in her arms, holding on best she could. They reached an alley next to an old apartment complex and Eponine rushed down it, “Quick, get on my back.” she said, putting Angie down. Angie did her best to climb onto Eponine’s back, “Hold on.” Eponine looked at the brick wall in front of them and began to climb up it, Gavroche followed behind her. Eponine pushed open the window and climbed inside. Standing inside were four people; Thenardier, Madame Thenardier, Azelma, and Montparnasse. They all stared at the three when they climbed in the window.

“Eponine, what is this?” Thenardier asked.

“‘Ponine, why’d you bring us here?” Gavroche asked. He was about to climb back out the window when he heard the yells from the police.

“The police are following us.” Eponine said, placing Angie carefully on the floor and then shutting the window.

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” Montparnasse asked Gavroche with a sneer.

“Like she said, police are following  _ us _ .” Gavroche crossed his arms and glared at Montparnasse, “I’m not happy about it, either.”

“It was the closest place I could think of.” Eponine said.

“Well, I think we’ll be going.” Angie said, limping towards the door.

“Hang on.” Eponine said.

“What?” Angie asked, looking at her.

“Mama, Papa, do you remember Gavroche?” Eponine asked her parents.

“Who?” Madame Thenardier asked with a frown.

“Gavroche.” Eponine gestured to Gavroche, who was standing next to the window, “Your son.”

“I remember that day years ago when we came to Paris.” Thenardier scowled, “And he nearly got us all arrested.”

“You deserve to get arrested.” Gavroche said.

“Just did, got out, though.” Thenardier said.

“I think the boy knows that.” Montparnasse waved his hand, “We shared a cell briefly before he climbed out through the barred window.”

“Really?” Eponine looked at Gavroche.

Gavroche turned a little pink, “Yeah, we got arrested by one of those policemen.” he said, “That’s when we saw Azelma.”

“Oh, right.” Azelma nodded.

“What did you do to get arrested?” Eponine asked.

“Well, we’ve stolen a bunch of stuff.” Angie shrugged.

“Yeah, but that time it was cheese.” Gavroche said.

“Cheese?” Montparnasse asked, “Amateurs.” he mumbled under his breath.

“ _ We’re _ amateurs?” Angie asked Montparnasse, “How long have  _ you _ been stealing for?”

“I don’t steal food like you do.” Montparnasse replied, “I steal things that I can sell.”

“Like what?” Angie asked, crossing her arms.

“Jewelry for one.” he said.

“You also steal people’s lives.” Eponine said, glaring at him.

“What does that mean?” Gavroche asked.

“Montparnasse kills people.” Eponine said.

“What? Why?” Gavroche asked, looking at Montparnasse in bewilderment.

“I think it’s fun.” Montparnasse shrugged.

“Montparnasse, get these two out of here.” Thenardier said, gesturing to Gavroche and Angie, “Perhaps you should give them something to do.”

“Why?” Montparnasse frowned at Thenardier.

“So they don’t bother us.” Thenardier sighed, “Just… do whatever.”

“Well, alright.” Montparnasse said, “I suppose I was done talking to you anyways.”

“Maybe we can talk more tomorrow.” Eponine suggested to Gavroche, “Where do you want to meet?”

“You know the Elephant of Bastille?” Gavroche asked.

“I think so.” Eponine nodded.

“Well, there’s fine any time of day.” Gavroche said, “Just knock on the back left leg.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.” Eponine smiled. Gavroche nodded and walked to the door.  Angie put her arm around Gavroche’s shoulders so he could help her walk.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.” Montparnasse said before opening the door and leaving, Gavroche and Angie followed him, pulling the door shut behind them. As soon as they left, they could hear yelling from inside the apartment room.

“Come on, let’s go home.” Angie sighed, pulling Gavroche to the stairs. Montparnasse went in front of them and disappeared out the door.

“We have to go to Combeferre’s and get your foot checked out.” Gavroche said.

“I’m fine.” Angie sighed. She dropped her arm from around his shoulder and put weight on her foot, immediately cringing and pulling her foot up.

“Come on.” Gavroche put his arm around her and pulled her out the door and to Combeferre’s apartment.


	12. L'étoile

“How’s your ankle?” Gavroche asked as he climbed down the rope ladder into the center of the Elephant.

“Still hurts a little, but Combeferre only said three months, though, right?” she asked, pushing herself up.

“Yeah, so you have to stay here until Combeferre gives the okay.” Gavroche nodded, “I just visited him and he said to bring you back there next week.”

“Ugh, this is so boring.” Angie grumbled, “I want to go outside again.”

“Well, you can’t.” Gavroche crossed his arms, “I don’t want you to get hurt worse.”

“When I’m better, I’m gonna run across all of Paris.” Angie said, smiling a little.

“Until then, at least you have me for company.” Gavroche said, sitting down.

“And my notebook.” Angie said, picking up her sketchbook, “What do you think of this one?” she held up a picture that looked like a person with a blonde mop on their head.

“Who is it?” Gavroche frowned.

“Enjolras.” Angie said, looking at it. She sighed, “I know, it isn’t really good. I’m surprised R hasn’t given up on me yet.”

“Well… maybe when you grow up you’ll be better.” Gavroche suggested.

“Maybe.” Angie looked down.

“Hey, I’m gonna go get something to eat.” Gavroche said, “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“Okay.” Angie said, grabbing her pencil and beginning to sketch again.

Gavroche looked at her sadly before climbing up the rope ladder and going out of the elephant. He walked down the street towards the market. He grabbed a piece of bread from a cart while the man running the cart was looking the other way and kept walking down the street, shoving it into his pocket. He looked around at the stores and his eyes landed on a jewelry cart with a bunch of necklaces and bracelets. His eyes landed on a star necklace that stood out to him and he walked to the cart.

“May I help you?” the woman running the cart asked, looking him up and down.

“How much is that necklace?” Gavroche asked, pointing to the star necklace.

“Way out of your price range.” the woman frowned. Gavroche dug through his pocket and pulled out a santime that he had been saving.

“Will this be enough?” Gavroche asked.

“No, dear.” the woman shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I can’t give it to you for a single santime. It costs five francs.”

“Five francs?” Gavroche asked, “That’s a lot for a single necklace.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s just what it’s worth.” the woman turned away.

“Please, it’s for my friend.” Gavroche pleaded.

“No.” the woman shook her head, “Now, scram. I need to help an actual customer.”

“Fine.” Gavroche grabbed his santime and shoved it into his pocket. Then, he climbed onto one of the wheels of the cart and reached up and grabbed the necklace.

“Hey! That’s my necklace!” the woman yelled, trying to grab his arm. He jumped off the wheel and started to run down the street, “Someone grab that thief!” the woman screamed. A man who was standing in the front of the crowd jumped in front of Gavroche, causing the boy to run right into him. Gavroche fell down and looked up at the man before jumping back to his feet.

“Move out of my way, Montparnasse.” he growled, balling his hands into fists.

“Madame, I caught your thief.” Montparnasse said, grabbing Gavroche by the collar.

“Let go of me!” Gavroche yelled, “What are you doing?” he hissed.

“Just watch.” Montparnasse smirked.

“Thank you, Monsieur.” the woman smiled in relief as Montparnasse dragged Gavroche back to her cart.

“Anytime.” Montparnasse smiled charmingly.

“I’ll take care of him from here.” the woman said, her look turning dark as she grabbed Gavroche by the collar.

“Get off!” Gavroche said, struggling against her.

“I can look after your cart if you want.” Montparnasse offered.

“Would you?” the woman smiled. She pulled the necklace out of Gavroche’s hand and hung it back up, “I’ll be right back. My brother can take care of him.”

“Of course.” Montparnasse nodded. The woman dragged Gavroche towards a man who was asleep in an alley.

“Claquesous.” the woman kicked them man, who stirred and sat up.

“What do you want?” Claquesous asked, struggling to his feet.

“Here.” the woman shoved Gavroche into Claquesous, “The boy stole a necklace from us, but a nice young man caught him.” she looked back to where Montparnasse was standing.

“You’re the Thenardier boy, aren’t you?” Claquesous asked, grabbing Gavroche’s collar.

“How do you know that?” Gavroche frowned, “Only ‘Parnasse, ‘Ponine, ‘Zelma, Angie, and my parents know that.”

“Well, you see, I know your parents, your sisters and Montparnasse.” Claquesous said. He took a mask out of his pocket and put it on before pushing Gavroche further down the alley, “Sis, you can go back to your cart, send the young man over here.”

The woman nodded before going to get Montparnasse. He walked over to the alley and stood at the entrance.

“So, it’s Gavroche, right?” Montparnasse asked.

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded, trying not to look nervous.

“I have a proposition for you.” Montparnasse said, walking down the alley, “Claquesous, since you’re here, you can help me out with this.”

“What do you want?” Gavroche asked.

“You see, there is one store that I have had my eye on for months now.” Montparnasse began, “But there’s one issue… The entrance that is left unguarded at night is too small for me.”

“So you want me to steal something for you?” Gavroche asked.

“Yeah.” Montparnasse nodded.

“What if I refuse?” Gavroche asked.

Montparnasse nodded at Claquesous, who then punched Gavroche in the stomach, “Then that will keep happening.”

“You think that’s gonna make me change my mind?” Gavroche asked, standing up straight, “Beat me up all you want, I’m not gonna do anything for you.”

“I thought you would be open to steal something.” Montparnasse chuckled, “I guess I was wrong.”

“What is it, anyways?” Gavroche asked.

“The building is the Expiatory Chapel.” Montparnasse said, “And inside there is a necklace that I want you to get.”

“Isn’t that where some king and queen are buried?” Gavroche asked. He had heard his friends talking about it at some meetings.

“Yes.” Montparnasse nodded.

“Then, no.” Gavroche shook his head, “That place has got to have a lot of guards and stuff.”

“That’s why I’m asking you.” Montparnasse sighed, “You can slip past them.”

“No.” Gavroche shook his head again. Montparnasse nodded at Claquesous. Claquesous punched Gavroche again.

“Keep punching until he says yes.” Montparnasse instructed. Claquesous nodded and kept punching Gavroche. After ten punches, Montparnasse stopped him, “Here. I’ll make a deal. If you do this for me, I’ll give you that star necklace.”

“I get it first.” Gavroche was now on the ground.

“Alright.” Montparnasse nodded after thinking for a little. Gavroche stood up a little shakily. Montparnasse then pulled the star necklace out of his pocket.

“You stole it?” Gavroche asked.

“Thought it might come in handy.” Montparnasse said, throwing it to Gavroche. Gavroche caught it and put it in his pocket along with the bread.

“Bye.” Gavroche said, sliding past Montparnasse and running down the street.

“You let him go, you know that, right?” Claquesous asked.

“Come on, we can follow behind him.” Montparnasse sighed, “I knew this was going to happen, by the way.”

“Course you did.” Claquesous grumbled. But he followed Montparnasse down the street.

“Angie! I got you something!” Gavroche called once he climbed inside the leg of the elephant.

“What?” Angie called back. Gavroche excitedly ran to the rope ladder and climbed down.

“Bread, first, of course.” he grinned, taking it out of his pocket.

“Thanks.” Angie smiled. Gavroche broke it in half and handed her one half before reaching into his pocket again.

“And this.” he pulled out the star necklace, “Is for you.”

“Oh, Gav, it’s beautiful.” Angie breathed, her eyes widening. She took it carefully, “Can you help me put it on?”

“Yeah, sure.” Gavroche grinned and unclasped it, putting it around her neck and reclasping it, “A beautiful necklace for a beautiful girl.” he said.

Angie blushed a little, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Gavroche said, turning a little pink.

“How adorable.” Montparnasse said from on top of the rope ladder.

“How did you find me?” Gavroche asked.

“Following someone through the streets isn’t hard.” Montparnasse shrugged. He climbed down the rope ladder.

“Come on, Angie.” Gavroche pulled her towards the entrance to their tunnels.

“No.” Montparnasse said, pulling a gun out of his pocket.

“Where did you get that?” Angie asked, shock evident on her face.

“Had it for years, my father gave it to me when I left.” Montparnasse said, pointing the gun at them, “Claquesous, grab the girl and bring her back up here.” Claquesous walked over to Gavroche and Angie.

“I swear… if you touch me…” Angie threatened. Montparnasse fired a warning shot into the ceiling, causing both Gavroche and Angie to duck instinctively. Claquesous grabbed Angie and lifted her off the ground by the collar, “Put me down!” Angie yelled.

“Stop it!” Gavroche yelled, grabbing Claquesous’ arm.

“Gavroche.” Montparnasse warned. Gavroche let go. Claquesous dragged Angie over to Montparnasse.

“What do you want?” Angie asked him.

Montparnasse grabbed her by the hair, “Since I can’t seem to have been able to convince him before, I think a little leverage will help.” he pointed the gun at her.

“Fine. I’ll steal the necklace.” Gavroche said quickly, “Just please, don’t hurt her.”

“I thought that would help.” Montparnasse smirked, “Come on.” Gavroche shakily walked over to them, “Go.” Montparnasse pushed Angie towards the rope ladder with the gun to her back.

“Move.” Claquesous grabbed Gavroche’s collar and pushed him towards the ladder. Angie climbed to the top and glanced back at Gavroche, worry on her face.

“Let’s go.” Montparnasse put the gun to her back and put a hand on her shoulder, walking her down the stairs, Claquesous held Gavroche by the collar as they followed. They walked down the streets towards their destination. They walked for an hour before Montparnasse finally stopped.

“What is this place?” Gavroche asked, looking at the building in front of them.

“Chapelle Expiatoire.” Montparnasse said.

“How am I supposed to get in?” Gavroche asked, glancing at the guards at the doors.

“There.” Montparnasse pointed to the arches, “Climb through the top.”

“What does the necklace look like?” Gavroche asked.

“It has a lot of diamonds.” Montparnasse said, “You’ll know when you find it.”

“O-okay.” Gavroche took a shaky breath and nodded.

“We’ll be waiting here.” Montparnasse said, pulling Angie closer and pushing the gun into her back. Gavroche looked at her and their eyes locked for a second before Gavroche looked away. Claquesous pushed Gavroche away from them and towards the building. Gavroche took a steadier deep breath and began to climb the wall. He climbed through the small gap and down the other side. He dropped soundlessly to the ground and looked around for the guards, waiting until the coast was clear before running stealthily to the door. He looked around for an entrance and saw a window up above the door. He climbed the wall and tumbled through the window, falling to the floor on the other side. He quickly got up and looked around, sighing in relief when he didn’t see anyone. He walked over to a door and pushed it open, walking inside and looking inside. He then saw it. There was a diamond necklace sitting in a case against the wall. He lifted the case and took out the diamond necklace carefully, putting it in his pocket before starting his journey back outside. He climbed up the wall outside.

“Hey! You!” he heard a yell from behind him. He looked back and saw three guards running towards him. Gavroche quickly scaled the rest of the wall and practically dove through the opening. He crashed to the ground and almost immediately felt his feet leave the ground.

“Did you get it?” Montparnasse asked, he was still holding the gun to Angie and Claquesous was holding Gavroche by the collar in the air.

“Yeah.” Gavroche nodded and took it out of his pocket.

“There!” he heard a yell from down the street.

“You fool!” Montparnasse hissed to him, “They saw you!”

“Put me down!” Gavroche struggled in Claquesous’ grasp. Montparnasse brought the gun away from Angie and shot it down the street at the guards, missing wildly. Angie stomped as hard as she could on his foot, causing him to let go of her shoulder. She ran over to Claquesous and stomped on his foot as well, but he didn’t drop Gavroche. Gavroche twisted around and Claquesous finally dropped him.

“Come on!” Angie grabbed Gavroche’s hand and was about to pull him down the street but when she turned around, Montparnasse had the gun pointed right at her. The three guards ran to them but stopped when they saw what was happening.

“Put down the gun.” the guard in front said. Montparnasse looked at him for a brief second before turning his gaze back to Gavroche and Angie. Then, he nodded to Claquesous. In a flash, Montparnasse had his arm around Gavroche’s neck and the gun pressed against the boy’s temple. Claquesous had a knife pressed to Angie’s neck.

“How about this…” Montparnasse looked at the guards, “You let us go and we won’t kill these two.”

One of the guards murmured something to the leader, “The boy was the one who was seen scaling the inside wall.” the main guard said.

“Of course.” Montparnasse chuckled, “Do you think I would be able to fit through the tiny space.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Gavroche mumbled, “Then maybe you’d be stuck.”

“Shut it.” Montparnasse hissed, shaking him a little. Then, he looked up at the guards, “So, what’ll it be?”

“Fine.” the guard finally said. Montparnasse and Claquesous slowly backed up, keeping their grips tight on Gavroche and Angie.

“Let go of me.” Angie struggled against Claquesous, only succeeding in getting the knife dug slightly into her neck. Once they were of view of the guards, Montparnasse put the gun away and grabbed Gavroche by the collar, still walking. Claquesous put away his knife and followed, keeping his arm around Angie’s neck as they walked.

“Where are we going?” Gavroche asked, trying to pull away from Montparnasse.

“I’m just taking you back to your elephant.” Montparnasse said, pulling him down the street. Gavroche struggled until he saw the elephant in the distance. Angie didn't stop struggling against Claquesous until he let go of her once they had reached the elephant, “We will see each other again.” Montparnasse said before turning and walking away from them, Claquesous right behind him.

“Are you okay?” Gavroche asked Angie.

“Yeah, fine.” Angie said, glaring at Montparnasse and Claquesous.

“Come on, let's go to Combeferre’s and get your leg checked again.” Gavroche said, grabbing her hand.

“No, we don't need to.” Angie shook her head, “I just want to go back inside.”

“Please.” Gavroche looked at her, “I want to know when you will be able to run again.”

“Fine.” Angie sighed. She put her arm around him and they went to Combeferre’s house, “Thanks for the necklace, by the way.” She said.

“Course.” Gavroche smiled a little.


	13. Amis Fraternel

February was a cold month in 1832. Angie’s ankle had finally healed so she could run around with Gavroche. They had bumped into Montparnasse and his friends who eventually were called the Patron Minette. Those times they bumped into each other, Montparnasse had offered the two children jobs. At first, the two refused, but once Montparnasse told them how much money they would be given, they finally started to accept the jobs and started working for the Patron Minette.

“Come on, Gav!” Angie said excitedly as she climbed down from on top of the elephant.

“What?” Gavroche jumped to his feet.

“I saw Montparnasse in the square!” Angie said, grinning.

“Ugh, fine.” Gavroche sighed and followed her through the tunnel, climbing down the rope and dropping to the ground. Angie ran through the crowds of people and to where Montparnasse was standing, his hat tipped down over his face and his hands shoved into his pockets.

“Montparnasse!” Angie said. The nineteen year old looked down at her.

“Angelique.” he tipped up his hat a little and smirked.

“Do you have a job?” Angie asked.

“Not today.” Montparnasse sighed, “At least, not yet.” he looked around the square.

“Hello, ‘Parnasse.” Gavroche said, walking over.

“Gavroche.” Montparnasse nodded, “I’ll be right back, I may find something for you.” he patted the two children on their shoulders before crossing the square.

“I wonder how much we’ll get this time.” Angie said excitedly.

“Angie, do you remember when we used to hate them?” Gavroche asked, “You know, when Montparnasse nearly shot the both of us.”

“Of course.” Angie shrugged, “That was different. They weren’t gonna give us money for that.”

“Yeah. I suppose.” Gavroche sighed. Montparnasse walked back over to them.

“I found you a job.” he smiled.

“How much?” Angie asked.

“A lot.” Montparnasse grinned.

“Good.” Gavroche said, “What’s the job?”

“Well, you’re going to be helping some friends of mine.” Montparnasse said, “Actually, I think you know them.” he led the two over to where an opening in the wall had been covered by a sheet. He pulled the sheet aside and pushed the two inside.

“I’m sure of it.” in the corner of the room where Madame Thenardier and Monsieur Thenardier.

“No.” Gavroche turned around and glared at Montparnasse, “I’m not helping them!”

“Come on, Gav, it’ll just be once.” Angie pleaded, “We’ll get a bunch of money from this.”

“What do you even want us for, anyways?” Gavroche asked Montparnasse, “Couldn’t you just use Eponine and Azelma?”

“Eponine will be helping me keep an eye out for the police and Azelma already is helping.” Montparnasse said, gesturing to where Azelma was sitting in the corner, wrapping cloth around her bleeding arm.

“What did you do?” Gavroche asked.

“She punched a window.” Montparnasse said, “Makes it look worse.”

“These them?” Thenardier asked, walking over.

“Yes.” Montparnasse nodded, “Angelique and Gavroche.”

“Girl.” Madame Thenardier said from the corner. Angie glanced at Gavroche for a second before walking over to Madame Thenardier.

“What do you want me to do?” Gavroche asked Thenardier.

“You go outside and pick out the target. Someone rich who looks like they will take pity on a starving family.” Thenardier said. Gavroche sighed and walked outside, sitting against the wall. Montparnasse came outside.

“Gavroche, your father told me the plan.” Montparnasse said, “When a rich person comes along, you ask them to help out your family. If they ask your name, the last name is Jondrette.” Gavroche sighed and nodded and Montparnasse walked off down the street. Pretty soon, a man and his daughter walked down the street, handing out bread and coins to the people. Gavroche glanced back at the sheet before standing up and walking over to the two.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“Hello.” the girl smiled, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Gavroche Jondrette.” Gavroche said.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” the girl smiled.

“Can you help my family?” Gavroche asked, using puppy dog eyes as he had learned over the years, “Please.”

“Of course.” the man said, “Where are they?”

“There.” Gavroche pointed.

“You stay here and continue handing things out.” the man told his daughter. Then, he walked towards where Gavroche had pointed.

“What’s your name, mademoiselle?” Gavroche asked.

“I’m Cosette.” the girl said, handing him a piece of bread.

“Cosette…” Gavroche whispered, memories flooding in of when he was really young, “My best friend’s name was Cosette.” he said.

“Oh, really?” Cosette asked, “I had a friend when I was much younger, he didn’t have a name, however. Now, my friends are my father and the other girls at the convent.”

“I didn’t have a name until I met Angie.” Gavroche said.

“Who’s Angie?” Cosette asked.

“My friend.” Gavroche said, “She’s my best friend now.”

“Oh, how nice.” Cosette smiled sweetly.

“Do you think you could’ve been my friend from before?” Gavroche asked, “I don’t really remember much, but…”

“Well, I don’t know.” Cosette said, handing a coin to another young boy who had run up to her, “Papa’s been in there for a while.” she frowned and looked at where the man had gone.

“I can go check and see what’s happening.” Gavroche offered.

“Would you?” Cosette smiled. Gavroche nodded and ran over, peeking his head through the sheet. When he did so, he saw Thenardier and one of the Patron Minette grabbing onto the man’s arms. When Gavroche turned around to yell to Cosette, he saw two things. The first thing he saw was Marius helping Cosette up off of the ground, both of them looking into the other’s eyes. The second thing he saw was Eponine running down the street, waving her arms.

“Police! Run!” she screamed, “It’s Javert!” Gavroche pushed aside the sheet to let Eponine run inside. Thenardier and the Patron Minette let go of the man and he rushed out to his daughter, putting an arm protectively around her. Angie ran out and Gavroche quickly pulled her to the side.

“What happened?” he hissed.

“They knew the man.” Angie whispered, “Apparently, he’s the one who bought your friend, Cosette.”

“So it is her!” Gavroche said. He then heard hooves pounding against the pavement as Javert rode up with his men right behind him. He slid off his horse and walked over to where the scene had just taken place. By now, all of the Patron Minette and the Thenardiers, with the exception of Eponine, who had disappeared, and Montparnasse, who had not returned, were standing in a line.

“Another brawl here in this square!” Javert said, standing at the end and looking at all of them, “By now, I recognize every single one of you standing here.” he grabbed Gavroche by the collar and lifted him off his feet. For a second, they both glared at the other before Javert put him down and shoved him towards an officer. Angie tried to go help her friend but was grabbed by another officer.

“Let go of me!” Angie yelled, squirming in the officer’s grip.

“M’sieur, these streets are not safe.” Javert said to Cosette and her father, “I’ll see that there is justice done here.” the man nodded but kept his face turned away. Javert walked over to the Patron Minette and the Thenardiers, “Look upon this fine collection of worms and maggots.” The man and his daughter snuck out of the square as Javert spoke, “But where’s the gentleman gone and why so?” Javert asked noticing the absence.

“Well, you see…” Thenardier stepped forward, “The man who you saw stole the girl who was beside him from me and my family. And the worst part of it is the brand on his skin!”

“Could it be?” Javert asked, “He’s some old jailbird. And perhaps that he’s Jean Valjean! Take them back.” Javert said to his men. The Patron Minette and Thenardiers were immediately surrounded and arrested. Angie and Gavroche both struggled in their captor’s arms. Then, Angie bit the man holding her as hard as she could, causing him to yelp in pain and let go of her. Gavroche quickly followed her example and bit the man holding him. Then, he ran after Angie.

“Those little…” one of the men growled, prepared to follow them.

“Leave it.” Javert said, “They don’t matter.” Angie turned back briefly and stuck her tongue out at the officers before continuing her run. The two children finally reached the elephant and climbed inside.

“Angie.” Gavroche said once they had reached the cavern.

“Yeah?” Angie asked, sitting down and sketching.

“Could that have really been her?” he asked, laying down on the floor and looking up.

“Yeah.” Angie shrugged, “What was her name again?”

“Cosette.” Gavroche said, looking at her, “Tell me exactly what happened when my parents were trying to scam that man.”

“Well...he walked over and came inside. I was pretending to be sick and stuff.” Angie began, “And they started the scam and then your father recognized him and they attacked the guy and that’s when Eponine arrived.”

“Oh.” Gavroche nodded, “Hey, Angie, did you have any siblings?”

“I was supposed to.” Angie said, “But the baby died soon after it was born, it was a boy. That’s the main reason my parents hated me.”

“Cosette was basically my sister.” Gavroche said, “I remember she told me how the family reacted when I was born. Both mama and Eponine were really mad that I was a boy. Papa couldn’t care less and Azelma didn’t understand why it was a bad thing that I was a boy.”

“Azelma was the one in jail with us, right?” Angie asked.

“Yep.” Gavroche nodded, “Eponine changed her mind as I got older, though. Not much older, but, still…”

“You know what?” Angie asked, “I’m glad neither of our parents liked us. I mean, it’s not a good thing, but then again it is. You know what I mean?”

“No.” Gavroche frowned.

“Well, we wouldn’t have met if our parents didn’t like us.” Angie said.

“Oh.” Gavroche nodded, “Yeah. I guess I’m glad, too.” he smiled.


	14. Le Riche

The blonde boy’s head poked out from the top of the elephant, looking down at the streets below, “Come on!” he called, grabbing onto a rope and sliding down all the way to the ground. A redheaded girl followed him, grinning from ear to ear. Three boys joined them at the bottom. The older of the three was named Navet, who had befriended the blonde and redhead throughout the years. He lived with his older sister in an alley they had claimed when the boy had been just a baby. He was less than ten years of age, very small and ragged, yet very excitable with a vivacious flair. The other two boys were runaways who had stumbled upon the elephant as they were wandering. They were called Hugues and Bressole by the woman whom they had lived with before getting lost. As we have known, the blonde boy was named Gavroche and the redhead Angie. The five friends made an odd group that were often looked down upon by everyone. The eldest two, Gavroche at eleven years old and Angie at twelve, nearly thirteen as she told people, looked after the three younger children, especially Hugues, who was five, and Bressole, who was eight. On this chilly March day, the five children had decided to go together to gather food to bring back home.

“Look at all of the carriages.” Hugues whispered to Bressole. His brother smiled a little and squeezed the younger boy’s hand.

“Come on.” Gavroche said, running towards the carriages, “Maybe we can get someone to give us food.”

“You know how much I hate begging.” Angie said, running beside him.

“Yeah, but it’s Wednesday.” Gavroche replied, “And the babies are hungry.” he gestured back to the three boys struggling to catch up to them.

“We’re not babies.” Navet frowned.

“You basically are.” Gavroche grinned, putting an arm around the boy’s shoulders. He slipped under a carriage and let go of Navet.

“Here!” Angie had run ahead and was pointing to one of the carriages. Gavroche grinned and climbed up the wheel, pulling down the carriage’s window. Angie climbed up next to him, Navet, Hugues, and Bressole stood next to the carriage.

“How do you do, my name’s Gavroche.” Gavroche said, putting his foot up on the windowsill. The man and woman inside looked at him, clearly disgusted.

“And I’m Angelique.” Angie spoke up.

“I know, we aren’t much to look at, nothing posh.” Gavroche shrugged, looking down at his dirty clothes.

“Yeah and this is our school, here in the slums.” Angie said, gesturing to the area behind her where a crowd of beggars were.

“And we live on crumbs of people who are humble.” Gavroche said, putting out his hands to them, “It’s tough on our teeth, but what the hell?”

“Think you’re poor?” Angie turned around and yelled.

“Think you’re free?” Gavroche yelled, looking around at the other beggars.

“Follow us!” they both yelled, climbing through the carriage. The other three children quickly followed. They climbed across and ran under a few more carriages before Gavroche and Angie hopped on the back of one of the carriages just before it started moving. The three other children ran behind it, joined by a few other street urchins.

“You know, we killed the king once.” Gavroche said to them.

“But that was changing the world too fast.” Angie added.

“Yep, and now we’ve got another king whose no better.” Gavroche said.

“This is the land that fought for liberty before! But now we fight for bread.” Angie said standing up.

“Well, here’s the thing about equality.” Gavroche stood beside her, “Everyone’s equal when they’re dead!”

“Take your place!” Angie yelled.

“Take your chance!” Gavroche shouted.

“Vive la France! Vive la France!” they both yelled, grinning. Courfeyrac and Combeferre walked over and helped the two onto their backs. They walked over to where a crowd had gathered around a small stage. Enjolras stepped onto the stage and made a speech to the crowd. Courfeyrac and Combeferre put Angie and Gavroche down so they could help hand out fliers. Angie and Gavroche led the three younger children out of the crowd and down the street. Then, the police arrived to break up the crowd of beggars and students alike who had gathered. Courfeyrac quickly got the five children and pulled them back to the Musain.

“Do you think we got any of the rich people to change their minds?” Bressole asked, tugging on Courfeyrac’s arm.

“I’m sure of it.” Courfeyrac smiled. He led the three youngest over to the corner table while Gavroche and Angie went over to some of the older boys.

“Can I have a drink?” Gavroche asked Grantaire hopefully.

“No.” Grantaire said, taking a swig.

“Come on.” Gavroche whined, “When are you ever going to let me?”

“Never as long as I can help it.” Grantaire chuckled. Gavroche pouted and leaned back in his seat.

“So, how do you think that went today?” Courfeyrac asked, pulling up a chair after he settled the three young boys.

“Fine.” Combeferre shrugged.

“How many fliers?” Enjolras asked, walking over.

“Well, we have twenty maybe left over.” Combeferre said, “That's good other than the fact that more than half of the people we gave fliers to can't read.”

“I can read.” Angie announced.

“No you can't.” Enjolras scoffed, walking away.

“I can, too!” Angie said, standing up.

“Prove it.” Enjolras said, grabbing a flier off of the nearest table and handing it to her.

“I will.” Angie said, her face flushed. She looked at the paper, “G-E-N-E-R-A-L. Geeneerall.” Angie said, squinting at the word. She looked up at Enjolras.

“She's still learning, Apollo.” Grantaire said.

“What, are you teaching her?” Enjolras asked, pulling the flier out of Angie’s hands.

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Grantaire smiled.

“He's teaching both me and Gavroche how to read and write.” Angie said, “And he's been teaching me how to draw for a long time.”

“You won't be able to ever do any of those things.” Enjolras said, “Especially with  _ him _ teaching you.” He gestured to Grantaire with a slight look of disgust as Grantaire took another swig from his bottle.

“But I have learned stuff!” Angie protested, “I can read and write my name now! So can Gav!”

“No, you can't.” Enjolras said, going over to a table and sitting down. He started working on a new flier.

“Give me a pencil and paper.” Angie demanded. Prouvaire pulled a notepad from his pocket and flipped to an empty page before handing it to her. Then, he pulled a pencil out and handed it to her. Angie sat down at the table and began working on writing her name, sticking her tongue out which showed she was concentrating hard, “There!” She said finally, standing up so quickly that her chair toppled over. She walked triumphantly over to Enjolras and put the pad of paper in front of him.

“This is a bunch of scribbles on a piece of paper.” Enjolras said, tossing the pad back to Prouvaire. Angie’s confidence disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and she trudged back over to their table, putting her head in her hands.

“It's okay, Angie.” Gavroche said, “Come on. Let's go.” He stood up and she sadly followed. Once the three youngest boys noticed, they quickly came over. The five walked home, Bressole and Hugues didn't have a clue why Angie was upset and Navet only partially understood. Once they reached the elephant, Angie and the two youngest boys headed inside. Navet grabbed Gavroche’s arm. Gavroche turned back to him.

“What happened?” the boy asked.

“When we first met Enjolras, he said a bunch of stuff to Angie.” Gavroche sighed, “He said she couldn't do some things because she's a girl.”

“That's stupid.” Navet said.

“Lots of people think so too.” Gavroche said, “Today he said she couldn't learn to read and write, you know, the stuff R has been teaching us.”

“Angie's good at it, though!” Navet said.

“He just doesn't understand that.” Gavroche shrugged.

“You two coming?” Angie asked poking her head out of the trapdoor.

“Course.” Gavroche grinned, climbing up and inside.


End file.
